Apparatus, method, computer program and mobile terminal for processing information

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for processing information, includes a memory storing a plurality of content items different in type and metadata containing time information of the content items, a cache processor for fetching from the memory the content item and the metadata of the content item to be displayed on a display and storing the fetched content item and the metadata thereof on a cache memory, a display controller for displaying on the display the metadata of the content items from the cache memory arranged in accordance with the time information and a selection operator selecting metadata corresponding to a content item desired to be processed, out of the metadata displayed, and a content processor for fetching from the cache memory a content item corresponding to the metadata selected by the selection operator by referencing the cache memory in response to the selected metadata, and for performing a process responsive to the fetched content item.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention contains subject matter related to Japanese PatentApplication JP 2006-169066 filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Jun.19, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus, method, computer programand mobile terminal for processing information appropriately for use asmobile devices such as a cellular phone, a personal handyphone system(PHS) phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a notebook personalcomputer.

2. Description of the Related Art

Basic data processing functions of computer systems include fetching(data acquisition), decoding (analysis), and execution. With today'sadvanced central processing units (CPUs), decoding and execution areperformed at a high speed. But the fetching process still remains to bea factor delaying data processing at any layer of the computer system.More specifically, the factors affecting the data processing speedinclude a delay in data fetching between the CPU and memory (von Neumannbottleneck), a delay in data fetching between a personal computer and anexternal storage, a delay in data fetching between a server and a clientterminal, etc.

A reduction in the data processing speed is improved by pre-fetchingdata expected to be processed later onto a cache memory in accordancewith a predetermined algorithm. The cache memory typically permitshigh-speed accessing. The data typically has temporal locality andspatial locality. Whenever data is used, the same data is mostly likelyto be used again in the near future (temporal locality). Whenever dataat an address is to be processed, data to be processed next is mostlylikely present at an address in the vicinity of the first address(spatial locality).

To process data in accordance with an algorithm based on the temporallocality, the CPU stores the processed data onto a cache memory, andreads the data from the cache memory for processing when the processingof the same data is requested next time. High speed processing isachieved in this way.

To process data in accordance with an algorithm based on the spatiallocality, the CPU stores, on the cache memory, together with the data tobe currently processed, data at a nearby address highly likely to beprocessed next. The CPU is thus prepared for a next data processingrequest.

As related cache memory techniques, Japanese Unexamined PatentApplication Publication No. 2004-118305 discloses a cache memorycontroller and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.2005-018441 discloses a memory device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A plurality of content items different in type is grouped into contentgroups falling within the same time range according to time informationcontained in each content item. If cache processing is performed basedon the time locality or the spatial locality in response to a request toprocess a content item, mishit is likely to occur.

Repeated request to process the same content is relatively low. Forexample, repeated viewing of the same still image content is lesslikely. The probability of mishit increases if the cache process isperformed based on the above-described time locality.

The content items might be grouped into content groups falling withinthe same time range. A content item to be processed next is likely to bethe one falling within the same time range. If the cache process isperformed based on the spatial locality, a content item at an addressclose to the content item previously processed is cache processed. Thecontent item at the close address is less likely to fall within the sametime range of the processed content item. The probability of mishitbecomes high if the cache process is performed based on the spatiallocality.

It is thus desirable to provide an information processing apparatus, aninformation processing method, an information processing program, and amobile terminal for performing high-speed content processing by groupinga plurality of content items different in type into content groupsfalling within the same time range based time information of eachcontent item, and by performing a cache process on a content itemdesired to be processed.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, an apparatusfor processing information includes a memory storing a plurality ofcontent items different in type and metadata containing time informationof the content items, a cache processor for fetching from the memory thecontent item and the metadata of the content item to be displayed on adisplay and storing the fetched content item and the metadata thereof ona cache memory, a display controller for displaying on the display themetadata of the content items from the cache memory arranged inaccordance with the time information and a selection operator selectingmetadata corresponding to a content item desired to be processed, out ofthe metadata displayed, and a content processor for fetching from thecache memory a content item corresponding to the metadata selected bythe selection operator by referencing the cache memory in response tothe selected metadata when the selection operator selects the metadata,and for performing a process responsive to the fetched content item.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a method ofprocessing information, includes steps of fetching a content item andmetadata of the content item to be displayed on a display from a memorystoring a plurality of content items different in type and metadatacontaining time information of the content items, storing the fetchedcontent item and the metadata thereof on a cache memory, fetching themetadata of each content item from the cache memory, displaying on thedisplay the metadata of the content items from the cache memory arrangedin accordance with the time information and a selection operatorselecting metadata corresponding to a content item desired to beprocessed, out of the metadata displayed, fetching from the cache memorya content item corresponding to the metadata selected by the selectionoperator by referencing the cache memory in response to the selectedmetadata when the selection operator selects the metadata, andperforming a process responsive to the fetched content item.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a computerprogram for causing a computer to process information, includes steps offetching a content item and metadata of the content item to be displayedon a display from a memory storing a plurality of content itemsdifferent in type and metadata containing time information of thecontent items, storing the fetched content item and the metadata thereofon a cache memory, fetching the metadata of each content item from thecache memory, displaying on the display the metadata of the contentitems from the cache memory arranged in accordance with the timeinformation and a selection operator selecting metadata corresponding toa content item desired to be processed, out of the metadata displayed,fetching from the cache memory a content item corresponding to themetadata selected by the selection operator by referencing the cachememory in response to the selected metadata when the selection operatorselects the metadata, and performing a process responsive to the fetchedcontent item.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a mobileterminal includes a memory for storing a plurality of content itemsdifferent in type and metadata containing time information of thecontent items, a cache memory for storing a content item and metadata ofthe content item to be displayed on a display, a cache processor forfetching from the memory the content item and the metadata of thecontent item to be displayed on the display and storing the fetchedcontent item and the fetched metadata thereof on the cache memory, adisplay controller for displaying on the display the metadata of thecontent items from the cache memory arranged in accordance with the timeinformation and a selection operator selecting metadata corresponding toa content item desired to be processed, out of the metadata displayed,an operation unit for shifting the selection operator, and a contentprocessor for fetching from the cache memory a content itemcorresponding to the metadata selected by the selection operator byreferencing the cache memory in response to the selected metadata whenthe selection operator shifted by the operation unit selects themetadata, and for performing a process responsive to the fetched contentitem.

If the metadata of the content items is displayed in accordance with thetime information of the content items, a content item to be selectedsubsequent to the selection of a first content item is likely to be theone close in time period to the first content item. In accordance withembodiments of the present invention, a cache process is performed onthe selected content item while the cache process is also performed oncontent items having time information prior to and subsequent to timeindicated by the time information of the first content item. The contentis thus processed at high speed with a cache hit rate increased.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, a plurality ofcontent items different in type are grouped into content groups fallingwithin the same time range based on the time information of the contentitems, and a content desired is thus processed. An optimum cache processis thus performed, permitting the content items to be processed at ahigh speed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cellular phone in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are external views of the cellular phone in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a variety of content items handled by a life timecalendar function arranged in the cellular phone in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a variety of setting screens in the life timecalendar function of the cellular phone in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a display example of a calendar-format life timecalendar of the cellular phone in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a display operation of thecalendar-format life time calendar of the cellular phone in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a month index and a year index displayed in thecalendar-format life time calendar in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a calendar-format life time calendar set on a standbyscreen in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an update process in which athumbnail image is updated every predetermined time period when thecellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention shows thecalendar-format life time calendar;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an update process in which athumbnail image of an in-focus date is updated every predetermined timeperiod when the cellular phone of one embodiment of the presentinvention shows the calendar-format life time calendar;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a process flow from displaying thedeview-format life time calendar to initiating an application programcorresponding to a selected content item in the cellular phone inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates the deview-format life time calendar in a listdisplay screen in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 13 illustrates the deview-format life time calendar in a thumbnaildisplay screen in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a display process in which a newschedule content item is displayed in the deview-format life timecalendar when a date having no content is selected in thecalendar-format life time calendar;

FIG. 15 illustrates the deview-format life time calendar in the listdisplay screen displaying the new schedule content;

FIG. 16 illustrates the deview-format life time calendar in a thumbnaildisplay screen displaying the new schedule content;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a remembrance popup display processof the cellular phone in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 18 illustrates a content display example displayed in a remembrancepopup window in the calendar-format life time calendar;

FIG. 19 illustrates a content display example displayed in theremembrance popup window on the deview-type life time calendar in thelist display screen;

FIG. 20 illustrates a content display example displayed in theremembrance popup window on the deview-format life time calendar in thethumbnail display screen;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a display process of a remembrancelist in the cellular phone in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 22 illustrates a display example of the remembrance list;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a remembrance popup display processbased on the number of past content items in the cellular phone inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating the remembrance popup displayprocess based on the number of past content items and past dates in thecellular phone in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating the remembrance popup displayprocess in which content items are detected by selecting one of “searchby year,” “search by month,” and “random search” in a random fashion orwith a predetermined probability in the cellular phone in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 26 illustrates a content high-speed reproducing process in thecellular phone in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating a cache process in the cellularphone in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28 illustrates an example of a content table arranged on a percontent item basis in a memory of the cellular phone in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 29 illustrates an example of a cache table arranged in a cachememory of the cellular phone in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 30A and 30B illustrate an update process of the cache tablearranged in the cache memory of the cellular phone in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 31 illustrates another cache process in the cellular phone inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is applicable to a cellular phone.

As shown in FIG. 1, a cellular phone 1 as one embodiment of the presentinvention includes an antenna 1 and a communication unit 2 forperforming wireless communication with a base station, a loudspeaker 3for outputting an audio sound such as a ring alert or a receiver sound,a microphone 4 for picking up a transmission sound, and a display 5 fordisplaying images (still and moving images), characters, and a “lifetime calendar” to be discussed later.

The cellular phone includes an operation unit 6 for inputting charactersand selecting an item in a menu, a light-emitting diode (LED) unit 7 foralerting a user to the arrival of a message by light, a camera 8 forphotographing a still image or a moving image of a desired subject, anda vibrator 9 for alerting the user to the arrival of a message byvibrating the body of the cellular phone.

The cellular phone further includes a timer 10 for measuring the presenttime, a memory 11 for storing a communication program for wirelesscommunication via a base station and a variety of application programs,and a variety of data (content items) handled by these applicationprograms, a controller 12 for controlling the entire cellular phone, anda cache memory 13 for storing a content item to be processed.

The memory 11 stores an e-mail management program for controllingproduction, transmission and reception of an e-mail, a camera controlprogram for controlling the photographing operation of the camera 8, andproviding a viewer function for viewing a moving image and a still imagereceived via a network or an input terminal, a schedule managementprogram for managing a schedule book having a user schedule registeredtherein, a telephone management program for managing a telephone book,and a music player program for reproducing a music content item.

The memory 11 stores a life time application program. The life timeapplication program, functioning as a so-called launcher softwareprogram, causes a “life time calendar” to be displayed on the display 5,and selects an application program from among the variety of applicationprograms for signal processing designated based on the “life timecalendar” and initiates the selected application program.

The memory 11 stores a schedule book registering a user's desiredschedule (schedule content item), a telephone book registering a stillimage of the user's acquaintance or friend, a friend's telephone number,a friends e-mail address, and a friend's birthday, music content to bereproduced in accordance with the music player program, still imagecontent and moving image content to be reproduced in accordance with theviewer function of the camera control program, e-mail contenttransmitted or received, telephone and e-mail transmission and receptionhistory, a remembrance list as a history of a “remembrance popupdisplays” to be discussed later, etc.

Each of the schedule content, the music content, the still imagecontent, the moving image content, the transmitted e-mail content, andthe received e-mail content contains time information as one unit ofmetadata to be discussed later. The memory 11 contains a content tableof each content item, for example, a content table for the schedulecontent, a content table for the music content, a content table for thestill image content, a content table for the moving image content, acontent table for the transmitted e-mail content, and a content tablefor received e-mail content. As will be described in detail later, eachcontent table lists metadata of the content items arranged in accordancewith time information of the content items (see FIG. 28).

The cache memory 13 stores a cache table. The cache table is produced byselecting the metadata of the content falling within a predeterminedtime range from the content table. The cache memory 13 also stores eachcontent item corresponding to the metadata stored in the cache table(see FIG. 29). Displaying of each content item falling within apredetermined time range is performed at a high speed as described indetail later.

The cellular phone of this embodiment is a flip phone type. As shown inFIGS. 2A and 2B, an upper body 21 and lower body 22 are flipped openfrom each other and closed to each other about a hinge 23. FIG. 2Aillustrates inner surfaces of the cellular phone (the surfaces meetingface to face in the closed state of the cellular phone). FIG. 2Billustrates external surfaces of the cellular phone in the open statethereof.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the cellular phone includes the display 5 in theupper body 21 thereof. The cellular phone further includes theloudspeaker 3 and a second camera (in-camera) 8 b between a top edge 21a of the upper body 21 and a top edge 5 a of the display 5. The cellularphone also includes the operation unit 6 in the lower body 21, and themicrophone 4 between the operation unit 6 and a bottom edge 22 a of thelower body 22.

The operation unit 6 includes a cross key 24 designed to be pressed oneach of upper, lower, left and right portions thereof, and an entry key25 arranged in the center of the cross key 24. The operation unit 6includes a first soft key 26 typically designed to be pressed to startthe e-mail management program, and a second soft key 27 typicallydesigned to be pressed to issue a network connection command to theInternet, for example. The operation unit 6 further includes a thirdsoft key 28 typically designed to be pressed to issue a main menudisplay command, and a fourth soft key 29 that is typically assigned adesired command.

The operation unit 6 further includes an off-hook key 30 typicallydesigned to be pressed to transmit or receive a telephone call, anon-hook key 31 typically designed to be pressed to switch on main power,switch off main power, or end a telephone conversation, a clear key 32typically designed to be pressed to delete an input character or tocorrect an already input operation command, and 12 character keys 33that are assigned numbers 0 through 9, alphabets, a star sign (*), apound sign (#), etc.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the cellular phone includes a first camera 8 a(main camera) on the back of the lower body 22 (on the surface opposedto the operation unit 6). The cellular phone thus includes two cameras,namely, the main camera 8 a and the in-camera 8 b. The main camera 8 ais typically used to photograph another user or a scene. The in-camera 8b is typically used to photograph the face of the user of the cellularphone in videophone. In the videophone, telephone conversation is goingon with video and voice exchanged.

The cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention has afunction of displaying a “life time calendar” (life time calendardisplay function) that lists content items in a time-series fashion. Inthe life time calendar function, the cellular phone handles collectivelyvideo content (including a still image and a moving image), the e-mailcontent, the schedule content, and the telephone book content. Thesecontent items are usually separately handled by the dedicatedapplication programs thereof.

The life time calendar is displayed when the controller 12 operates inaccordance with a life time application program stored on the memory 11.The life time application program is a content launcher software programcooperating with the application programs of the content items. Morespecifically, when a list of content items displayed on the life timecalendar is edited, a dedicated application program corresponding to acontent item to be edited is initiated.

The user can select any content item displayed on the life time calendarusing a “display setting function,” and a “filter setting function” tobe discussed later.

The life time calendar application program has a “rating function” toselect randomly a typical content item from a plurality of content itemsusing a random number. For example, a large number of still imagecontent items to be displayed is present, and cannot be displayed at atime on the life time calendar. Using the rating function of the lifetime calendar application program, the controller 12 selects arepresenting still image content item, and displays the selected stillimage content item on the life time calendar.

When all content items cannot be displayed on the life time calendar ata time, the typical content to be displayed is updated at apredetermined timing based on the rating function. A content item otherthan the already displayed content item is selected and displayed as arepresenting content.

The cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention focuses onthe life time calendar in response to an operation of the operation unit6 in order to operate the life time calendar. The verbs “focuses on”means displaying an outline surrounding a selected menu or a selectedcontent item or an entire area of the selected menu or the selectedcontent item in a brightness or a color different from the unselectedmenus or unselected content items.

Focusing on a selected menu or a content item helps the user torecognize easily the selected menu or the selected content item.Alternatively, a cursor may be used to help the user to recognize theselected menu or the selected content item.

When the operation unit 6 focuses on any date on the life time calendar,a content item corresponding to a date before the in-focus date (a dateone year before the in-focus date or a date one month before thein-focus date) is displayed in a popup window partially superimposed onthe life time calendar (remembrance popup function).

FIG. 3 illustrates content types and metadata of each content itemhandled by the life time calendar application program.

As shown in FIG. 3, the life time calendar application program handles“still image content,” “received e-mail content,” “transmitted e-mailcontent,” “schedule content,” and “birthday content” registered in thetelephone book.

As the content items to be handled by the life time calendar applicationprogram, FIG. 3 lists the still image content, the transmitted andreceived e-mail content, the schedule content, and the birthday contentregistered in the telephone book. The life time calendar applicationprogram further handles moving image content, music content, etc.

Handled as the still image content on the life time calendar arephotographing time/storage time data, a thumbnail image, a managementtitle, a file-type icon (still image icon), a file size icon, and asource icon.

The controller 12 retrieves time information measured by the timer 10and attaches the time information to the still image as thephotographing time data when the still image photographed by the camera8 is stored on the memory 11.

Some of still images downloaded from a predetermined web site may nothave the photographing time data attached thereto. In such a case, thecontroller 12 retrieves time information (storage time) from the timer10 and attaches the time information to the downloaded still image whenthe still image content is stored on the memory 11. The “photographingtime/storage time” of FIG. 3 mean such times.

The thumbnail image is produced on a real time basis from the originalstill image content stored on the memory 11 when the thumbnail image isdisplayed on the life time calendar. The thumbnail image has a size of120 pixels by 160 pixels, for example. When a thumbnail image of themoving image content is displayed on the life time calendar, thecontroller 12 produces a thumbnail image of a size of 120 pixels by 160pixels from a first frame of the moving image content and displays thethumbnail image on the life time calendar on a real time basis.

The management title indicates a title name of the still image content.When the still image photographed by the camera 8 is stored on thememory 11, the controller 12 automatically attaches to the still imagecontent the photographing date and the photographing time correspondingto current time information retrieved from the timer 10 as themanagement title. More specifically, the photographing date and thephotographing time are automatically attached to the still image contentas the management title at first.

The management title can be edited subsequent to the storage of thestill image content on the memory 11. To edit the management title, theuser displays an editing screen of the management title at apredetermined timing, and inputs a desired management title by operatingthe operation unit 6. The controller 12 causes the management titleinput by the user to overwrite the photographing date and thephotographing time automatically attached to the still image content. Inthis way, the management title of the still image content is modified toa management title desired by the user.

From among still image content items downloaded from a predetermined website, some still image content items may have a management titleattached thereto. The controller 12 leaves the already attachedmanagement title intact. If a still image content item has no managementtitle, the controller 12 automatically attaches to that still imagecontent item the date and time of downloading as the management title.The automatically attached management title may be modified to anymanagement title on the editing screen of the management title by theuser.

The life time calendar function can handle a variety of video formatsincluding Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), Graphic InterfaceFormat (GIF) including animation GIF, Shockwave Flash® (SWF), and stampand frame (IFM).

The file-type icon (still image icon) indicates a still image contentitem in any of the above-described video formats. The file size iconindicates a file size of the still image content.

The source icon indicates a source of the still image content. In thecase of the still image content photographed by the camera 8, an iconindicating that the camera 8 is the source is displayed on the life timecalendar. In the case of the still image content downloaded from thepredetermined web site, an icon indicating that the predetermined website is the source is displayed on the life time calendar.

When the displaying of the still image content is requested on the lifetime calendar, the controller 12 displays the requested still imagecontent based on the viewer function of the camera control programstored on the memory 11.

Handled as the “received e-mail content” on the life time calendarfunction are reception time data, an file-type icon (received mainicon), a from icon, a transmission source name/transmission sourceaddress, an attached data icon, a transmission source image, a subjecticon, and subject data.

The reception time data indicates reception time of a received mail. Thecontroller 12 retrieves the time information from the timer 10 at themoment of the reception of the e-mail, and stores on the memory 11 thereceived e-mail with the retrieved time information attached thereto.The controller 12 displays the time information attached to the e-mailas the reception time data on the life time calendar.

The file-type icon (received mail icon) indicates that an receivede-mail content item is present. The icon is typically represented by animage of a sealed cover with a downward looking arrow thereon. Thedownward looking arrow means reception.

The from icon indicates a display window of a transmission source name,and has a label “From” thereon.

The transmission source image is an image of each user registered in thetelephone book. In other words, the telephone book stored on the memory11 contains a registration box of the image of the user. The user of thecellular phone typically registers an image of each user photographed bythe camera 8 in the registration box of the telephone book. Thecontroller 12 searches the telephone book in accordance with an e-mailaddress attached to the received e-mail content, thereby detecting thephotographed image of the user serving as a transmission source of thereceived e-mail content and displaying the image on the life timecalendar. If the image size registered in the telephone book isdifferent from a display size on the life time calendar, the controller12 expands or contracts the image registered in the telephone book to animage having a size of 120 pixels by 160 pixels, and then displays theexpanded or contracted image on the life time calendar.

The transmission source name/address indicates a transmission source ofthe received e-mail. The controller 12 displays one of the transmissionsource image, the transmission source name and the transmission sourceaddress as data indicating the transmission source of the receivede-mail on the life time calendar.

The controller 12 displays on the life time calendar the transmissionsource image, the transmission source name and the transmission sourceaddress in that priority order. If the transmission source image, thetransmission source name and the transmission source address of thereceived e-mail are registered in the telephone book, the controller 12displays the transmission source image on the life time calendar. If thetelephone book registers the transmission source name and thetransmission source address with the transmission source image of thereceived e-mail left unregistered, the controller 12 causes thetransmission source name to be displayed on the life time calendar. Ifonly the transmission source address is registered or unregistered inthe telephone book with both the transmission source image and thetransmission source name of the received e-mail left unregistered, thecontroller 12 causes the transmission source address to be displayed onthe life time calendar.

The attached data icon is displayed on the life time calendar by thecontroller 12 when data, such as video data or music data, is attachedto the received e-mail. For example, the controller 12 indicates to theuser the presence of the attached data by displaying an icon of an imageof a clip on the life time calendar.

The subject icon indicates a display window of a subject title (name) ofthe received e-mail content. The subject data is a title (name) attachedto the received e-mail content. The controller 12 displays the subjectdata attached to the received e-mail next to the subject icon on thelife time calendar.

When the displaying of the received e-mail content on the life timecalendar is requested, the controller 12 starts the e-mail managementprogram stored on the memory 11, thereby displaying a text of the e-mailrequested.

If the displaying of the data attached to the received e-mail content onthe life time calendar is requested, the controller 12 starts anapplication program corresponding to the attached data to display therequested attached data. For example, a still image may be attached, andthe displaying of the attached data on the life time calendar may berequested. Using the viewer function of the camera control programstored on the memory 11, the controller 12 displays the still image asthe attached data. The attached data may be a music content item, andthe displaying of the attached data on the life time calendar may berequested. The controller 12 reproduces the music content as theattached data in accordance with the music player program stored on thememory 11.

Handled as the “transmitted e-mail content” on the life time calendarare metadata including transmission time data, an file-type icon(transmitted mail icon), a to icon, destination name/address, anplural-person icon, an attached data icon, a subject icon, and subjectdata.

The transmission time data indicates transmission time of an e-mail. Thecontroller 12 retrieves time information from the timer 10 at the timingof transmission of the e-mail and stores the transmitted e-mail with theretrieved time information attached thereto on the memory 11. Thecontroller 12 displays the time information attached to the e-mail onthe life time calendar as the transmission time data.

The file-type icon (transmitted mail icon) indicates whether thetransmitted e-mail content is present. For example, the file-type iconis typically represented by an image of a sealed cover with an upwardlooking arrow thereon. The upward looking arrow means transmission.

The to icon indicates a display box of a user name (address name) of apartner to whom the e-mail has been sent, and has a label “To.”

The destination image is an image of each user registered in thetelephone book. The image of each user registered in the telephone bookis handled as the “transmission source image” and the “destinationimage” on the life time calendar. If a size of the image registered inthe telephone book is different from a display size of the image handledon the life time calendar, the controller 12 expands or contracts theimage registered in the telephone book and then displays the expandedimage or the contracted image on the life time calendar as previouslydiscussed.

The destination name/address indicates a destination of the transmittede-mail. The controller 12 displays one of the destination image, thedestination name and the destination address as the data indicating thedestination of the transmitted e-mail on the life time calendar.

The controller 12 displays the destination image, the destination nameand the destination address in that priority order on the life timecalendar. If the destination image, the destination name and thedestination address of the transmitted e-mail are registered in thetelephone book, the controller 12 displays the destination image. If thedestination name and the destination address are registered in thetelephone book with the destination image of the transmitted e-mail leftunregistered, the controller 12 displays the destination name on thelife time calendar. If the destination address is registered orunregistered in the telephone book with both the destination image andthe destination name of the transmitted e-mail left unregistered, thecontroller 12 displays the destination address on the life timecalendar.

The plural-person icon appears when an e-mail is simultaneouslytransmitted to a plurality of users. For example, the plural-person iconmay be an icon of three persons to help the user to recognizeintuitively that the e-mail has been transmitted to a plurality ofpersons.

The plural-person icon appears in response to the transmitted e-mailcontent that has been transmitted to the plurality of users. If areceived e-mail is the one transmitted to a plurality of users, aplural-person icon may also appear to indicate that that received e-mailhas been simultaneously transmitted to the plurality of users.

The attached data icon appears when data is attached to the transmittede-mail. As described above, the attached data icon is an image of aclip.

The subject icon is a display box of the title (subject name) attachedto the transmitted e-mail content. The subject data is the titleattached to the transmitted e-mail content. The controller 12 displaysthe subject data attached to the transmitted e-mail next to the subjecticon on the life time calendar.

If the displaying of the transmitted e-mail content on the life timecalendar is requested, the controller 12 starts the e-mail managementprogram stored on the memory 11, thereby displaying a text of therequested e-mail.

When the displaying of the data attached to the transmitted e-mailcontent on the life time calendar is requested, the controller 12 startsan application program for the attached data, and displays the requestedattached data. For example, a still image may be attached, and thedisplaying of the attached data on the life time calendar may berequested. Using the viewer function of the camera control programstored on the memory 11, the controller 12 displays the still image asthe attached data. The attached data may be a music content item, andthe displaying of the attached data on the life time calendar may berequested. The controller 12 reproduces the music content as theattached data in accordance with the music player program stored on thememory 11.

Handled as the “schedule content” on the life time calendar is metadataincluding start time data of a schedule, a file-type icon (scheduleicon), a type icon, schedule summary/content data, an alarm icon, alarmon/off setting data, and holiday setting data.

The start time data of the schedule indicates start time of the scheduleregistered in the schedule book. To display the schedule on the lifetime calendar, the controller 12 searches for the start time of theschedule registered in the schedule book, and displays the start time onthe life time calendar.

The file-type icon (schedule icon) indicates the presence of theschedule. For example, the schedule icon is an image in the motif of acalendar and a pencil displayed on the life time calendar.

The type icon indicates a type of the schedule registered. To registerthe schedule in the schedule book, the user selects one from among typeicons shown in a list corresponding to the registered schedule. Thecontroller 12 displays the type icon, selected during the registrationof the schedule, together with the start time of the schedule on thelife time calendar.

The schedule summary/content data is input in an item of the scheduletitle when the user registers the schedule. The controller 12 displaysthe input date in the item of the title on the life time calendar as asummary of the schedule.

If no data is input in the item of the schedule, the controller 12displays, on the life time calendar, leading ten characters of acharacter string input in an item of the content of the schedule. The“schedule summary/content” of FIG. 3 means this input data.

The alarm icon is an image in the motif of a bell. The alarm on/offsetting data indicates whether an alarm is set on the schedule. When analarm is set on the schedule, the controller 12 displays a label “ON”next to the alarm icon of the image of the bell. When no alarm is set onthe schedule, the controller 12 displays a label “OFF” next to the alarmicon of the image of the bell.

The holiday setting data indicates a holiday specified by the user inthe schedule book. For example, if the user personally takes a day offon a business day, that day may be registered as a personal holiday inthe schedule book. The controller 12 determines from the schedule bookwhether any holiday is set on the days displayed on the life timecalendar. If a holiday is set on the displayed days, a display mannermay be changed, for example, a date box may be changed in color on thelife time calendar.

If the displaying of the schedule on the life time calendar isrequested, the controller 12 starts the schedule management programstored on the memory 11 to display the content of the requestedschedule.

When the schedule is registered in the schedule book, a venue where theschedule is expected to be performed, for example, a “company,” a“school” or a “home” may be input. In such a case, the controller 12reads from the schedule book the venue where the schedule is expected tobe performed, and displays the venue on the life time calendar.

Handled as the “birthday content” on the life time calendar is metadataincluding birthday data, a user name, a file-type icon (birthday icon),a frame image (outline image), and a thumbnail image.

In the cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention, thetelephone book includes registration boxes accommodating the still imageof the user, the frame image (outline image) and the birthday of theuser, in addition to the user name, the telephone number and the e-mailaddress of the user.

Besides the telephone book, the cellular phone also has personalinformation registration boxes accommodating the still image, the frameimage (outline image), the address, the e-mail address, the cellularphone number, and the birthday of the user of the cellular phone.

Based on a variety of information registered in the telephone book andthe personal information registration box, the controller 12 may displaya variety of information in the display box dated with the birthday ofthe user registered in the telephone book and in the display box datedwith the birthday of a holder of a cellular phone registered in thepersonal information registration box. The variety of information to bedisplayed may contain a birthday icon associated with an image of acake, a frame image serving as an outline of an image of flowers(including a frame image selected by the user as the holder of thecellular phone), a still image of the face of the user reaching hisbirthday, a still image of the face of the holder of the cellular phone,a user name reaching the birthday, or a user name as the holder of thecellular phone.

When the “birthday content” is selected on the life time calendar, thecontroller 12 starts the application program of the telephone book tocontrol the displaying of the personal information registration box ofthe user responsive to the “birthday content” or starts the applicationprogram for displaying the personal information of the holder of thecellular phone to control the displaying of the personal informationregistration box of the holder of the cellular phone responsive to the“birthday content.”

Whether to display a variety of content items on the life time calendarand time to display the content items are set on a setting screen of thelife time calendar. For setting on the life time calendar, a generalsetting menu is displayed on the display 5. The user operates theoperation unit 6 to select a setting menu of the life time calendar fromthe general setting menu. When the operation unit 6 is operated, thecontroller 12 displays a life time calendar (LTC setting screen) of FIG.4A on the display 5.

The LTC setting screen includes a “display setting” menu, a “filtersetting” menu, and a “remembrance display time” menu. In response to thecross key 24 of FIG. 2 operated by the user, the controller 12 shifts afocusing area among the display setting menu, the filter setting menu,and the remembrance display time menu.

When the controller 12 focuses on any of the setting menus, adescription text of the in-focus setting menu is provided. Morespecifically, as shown in FIG. 4A, the controller 12 focuses on the“filter setting” menu. The controller 12 displays in the margin of thedisplay 5 the description text for the filter setting menu reading“E-mail received from address unregistered in telephone book is set tobe non-displayable.” The description text to each in-focus setting menuis thus provided so that the user may recognize the content of thein-focus setting menu. The user can thus easily select a setting menudesired.

The user can shift the focusing area to any desired setting menu fromamong the display setting menu, the filter setting menu and theremembrance display time menu by operating the cross key 24.

Upon detecting the selection of the entry key 25 with the displaysetting menu being in-focus, the controller 12 displays the displaysetting menu of FIG. 4B on the display 5. The display setting menu isused to set whether to display each of the still image content, thereceived e-mail content, the transmitted e-mail content, the schedulecontent, and the birthday content on the life time calendar.

More specifically, the controller 12 displays, as the display settingmenu, a setting menu for each of the still image content, the receivede-mail content, the transmitted e-mail content, the schedule content,and the birthday content.

The setting menu for the still image content is used to set adetermination as to whether to display a still image on the life timecalendar and to select a folder storing the still image to be displayed.

To select any still images to be displayed on the life time calendarwithout limitation, the user selects an “all display” setting from apulldown menu of “all display/selective display/no display.” If the “alldisplay” is selected, the controller 12 selects a still image from amongall still images stored on the cellular phone and displays the selectedstill image on the life time calendar.

If the displaying of the images on the life time calendar is not needed,the user selects a “no display”setting from the pulldown menu of “alldisplay/selective display/no display.” When the “no display” setting isselected, the controller 12 excludes all still images stored on thecellular phone as an object to be displayed on the life time calendar.Therefore, when the “no display” setting is selected, none of the stillimages is displayed on the life time calendar.

To select a folder storing a still image to be displayed on the lifetime calendar, the user selects a “selective display” setting from thepulldown menu of “all display/selective display/no display.” When the“selective display” setting is selected, the controller 12 displays theselection box for the “select folder” at full brightness level. If oneof the “all display” setting and the “no display” setting is selected,the controller 12 displays the selection box for the “select folder” athalf-brightness level (gray display) to alert the user that theselection box for the “select folder” is non-active. If the “selectivedisplay” setting is selected, the controller 12 displays the selectionbox for the “select folder” at full-luminance level, thereby alertingthe user that the selection box for the “select folder” is currentlyactive.

The cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention allows theuser to sort the still images according to photographing date and timeand title and store the sorted still images in a plurality of stillimage folders arranged on the memory 11. The still images to be storedon the memory 11 include a still image photographed by the camera 8, astill image downloaded via a network, and a still image attached to ane-mail. When the selection box for the “select folder” is set to beactive, the user selects a desired folder. When the folder is selected,the controller 12 displays only still image content stored in the folderselected by the user.

The setting menu for the received e-mail content is used to set adetermination as to whether to display a corresponding received e-mailon the life time calendar and to set a folder storing the receivede-mail to be displayed, the e-mail address, and the type of the e-mail.

To display all received e-mails on the life time calendar, thecontroller 12 selects the all display setting from the pulldown menu of“all display/selective display/no display.” When the all display settingis selected, the controller 12 selects a received e-mail from allreceived e-mails stored on the cellular phone and displays the selectedreceived e-mail on the life time calendar.

If the displaying of the received e-mail content on the life timecalendar is not needed, the user selects the no display setting from thepulldown menu of “all display/selective display/no display.” When the nodisplay setting is selected, the controller 12 excludes all receivede-mail content stored on the cellular phone as an object to be displayedon the life time calendar. Therefore, when the no display setting isselected, none of the received e-mail content is displayed on the lifetime calendar.

To display only a selected received e-mail content item on the life timecalendar, the user selects the selective display setting from thepulldown menu of “all display/selective display/no display.” When theselective display setting is selected, the controller 12 displays theselection box for the “select folder”, a selection box for “select mailaddress,” and a selection box for “protect” at full-brightness level.

More specifically, when one of the all display setting and the nodisplay setting is selected, the controller 12 displays the selectfolder selection box, the select mail address selection box, and theprotect selection box at half-brightness level (gray level) to alert theuser that these selection boxes are non-active. In contrast, if theselective display setting is selected, the controller 12 displays theselect folder selection box, the select mail address selection box, andthe protect selection box at full-brightness level to alert the userthat these selection boxes are active.

The cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention allows aplurality of received e-mail folders to be arranged on the memory 11.The user sorts the received e-mails according to the reception date ofeach received e-mail and according to the user who has transmitted thereceived e-mail, and then stores the sorted received e-mails in therespective folders. The user selects a desired folder from among thefolders containing the sorted received e-mails, using the pulldown menu.If received e-mails in all folders can be displayed, the user may selectall folders. When the folder is selected, the controller 12 displaysonly a received e-mail stored in only the folder selected by the user onthe life time calendar.

To select a mail address, the user selects an e-mail address of a useras a sender of the e-mail. The user can select the mail address byspecifying a desired user (desired e-mail address) from the telephonebook, a transmission ranking list (listing the users in the order fromhigh to low mail transmission frequency), a reception ranking list(listing the users in the order from high to low mail receptionfrequency). Also, the user can directly input the mail address byoperating the operation unit 6. When the mail address is selected, thecontroller 12 displays only the received e-mail content containing thee-mail address selected by the user on the life time calendar.

The cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention allows adesired received e-mail from among the received e-mails to be protectedfrom inadvertent deletion. From among the received e-mails stored on thecellular phone, only the received e-mail set to be protected can beselected as a received e-mail content item to be displayed on the lifetime calendar.

Selection boxes for “protect” include “all display” setting and“protected mail only” setting. To display all received e-mails stored onthe cellular phone, the user selects the all display setting. When theall display setting is selected, the controller 12 displays the receivede-mail content on the life time calendar regardless of whether thereceived e-mail is protected or not. To display the protected receivede-mail only, from among all received e-mails stored on the cellularphone, the user selects the protected mail only setting.

The cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention allows thereceived e-mail content being displayed on the life time calendar to besubject to the display conditions as to whether the folder is selected,whether the received e-mail is to be protected, etc. When a plurality ofdisplay conditions is set, the controller 12 causes only a receivede-mail content item satisfying all display conditions to be displayed onthe life time calendar.

The setting menu for the transmitted e-mail content is used to setwhether to display a transmitted e-mail on the life time calendar and toset a folder storing the transmitted e-mail to be displayed, the e-mailaddress, and the type of the e-mail.

To display the transmitted e-mails on the life time calendar without anylimitation, the user selects the all display setting from the pulldownmenu of “all display/selective display/no display.” When the all displaysetting is selected, the controller 12 selects a transmitted e-mail fromamong all transmitted e-mails stored on the cellular phone and displaysthe selected transmitted e-mail on the life time calendar.

If the displaying of the transmitted e-mails is not needed, the userselects the no display setting from the pulldown menu of “alldisplay/selective display/no display.” When the no display setting isselected, the controller 12 excludes all transmitted e-mails stored onthe cellular phone as an object to be displayed on the life timecalendar. Therefore, when the no display setting is selected, none ofthe transmitted e-mails is displayed on the life time calendar.

To display a selected transmitted e-mail on the life time calendar, theuser selects the selective display setting from the pulldown menu of“all display/selective display/no display.” When the selective displaysetting is selected, the controller 12 displays the select folderselection box, the select mail address selection box and the protectselection box at full-brightness level, thereby alerting the user thateach selection box becomes active.

Similarly, a plurality of transmitted e-mail folders can be arranged onthe memory 11. The user sorts the transmitted e-mails according totransmission date and time of each transmitted e-mail and a transmissiondestination of each transmitted e-mail, and stores the transmittede-mail in the respective folder thereof. The user may select a desiredfolder storing a sorted transmitted e-mail from among the foldersstoring the sorted transmitted e-mails, or all folders if thetransmitted e-mails stored in all folders can be displayed. When thefolder is selected, the controller 12 displays only the transmittede-mail stored in the folder selected by the user on the life timecalendar.

The user selects an e-mail address as a destination of the transmittede-mail. The user can select the mail address by specifying a desireduser (desired e-mail address) from the telephone book, a transmissionranking list (listing the users in the order from high to low mailtransmission frequency), and a reception ranking list (listing the usersin the order from high to low mail reception frequency).

The user can also directly input the mail address by operating theoperation unit 6. When the mail address is selected, the controller 12displays the transmitted e-mail content containing the e-mail addressselected by the user on the life time calendar.

The cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention allows adesired transmitted e-mail from among the transmitted e-mails to beprotected from inadvertent deletion. From among the transmitted e-mailsstored on the cellular phone, only the transmitted e-mail set to beprotected can be selected as a transmitted e-mail content item to bedisplayed on the life time calendar.

Selection boxes for “protect” include “all display” setting and“protected mail only” setting. To display all transmitted e-mails storedon the cellular phone, the user selects the all display setting. Whenthe all display setting is selected, the controller 12 displays thetransmitted e-mail content on the life time calendar regardless ofwhether the transmitted e-mail is protected or not.

To display the protected transmitted e-mail only, from among alltransmitted e-mails stored on the cellular phone, the user selects theprotected mail only setting. When the protected transmitted e-mail onlyis selected, the controller 12 displays the protected transmitted e-mailonly on the life time calendar.

The cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention allows thetransmitted e-mail content being displayed on the life time calendar tobe subject to the display conditions as to whether the folder isselected, whether the transmitted e-mail is to be protected, etc. When aplurality of display conditions is set, the controller 12 causes only atransmitted e-mail content item satisfying all display conditions to bedisplayed on the life time calendar.

The setting menu for the schedule content is used to set a determinationas to whether to display a schedule on the life time calendar and to setthe type of the schedule to be displayed.

To display all schedules on the life time calendar without anylimitation, the user selects the all display setting from the pulldownmenu of “all display/selective display/no display.” When the all displaysetting is selected, the controller 12 selects a schedule from among allschedules registered in the schedule book and displays the selectedschedule on the life time calendar.

If the displaying of the schedules is not needed, the user selects theno display setting from the pulldown menu of “all display/selectivedisplay/no display.” When the no display setting is selected, thecontroller 12 excludes all schedules registered in the telephone bookregistered in the telephone book as an object to be displayed on thelife time calendar. Therefore, when the no display setting is selected,none of the schedules is displayed on the life time calendar.

To display a selected schedule on the life time calendar, the userselects the selective display setting from the pulldown menu of “alldisplay/selective display/no display.” When the selective displaysetting is selected, the controller 12 displays a “select type” settingat full-brightness level, thereby alerting the user that the selectionbox is active.

In the cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention, theschedule is sorted according to schedule type, such as company, school,lunch party, driving, sport, etc. The user can select a desired type ofschedule. When the schedule type is selected, the controller 12 displaysonly the schedule of a type selected by the user on the life timecalendar from among all schedules registered in the schedule book.

The setting menu for the birthday content is used to set a determinationas to whether to display birthday content on the life time calendar. Theuser selects the all display setting from the pulldown menu of “alldisplay/selective display/no display” if the user permits the birthdaycontent of all users registered in the telephone book and the birthdaycontent registered in the personal information registration box. Whenthe all display setting is selected, the controller 12 recognizes anddisplays as an object to be displayed on the life time calendar thebirthday content of all users registered in the telephone book and thebirthday content registered in the personal information registrationbox.

If the user does not want to display the birthday content on the lifetime calendar, the user selects the no display setting from the pulldownmenu of “all display/selective display/no display.” When the no displaysetting is selected, the controller 12 excludes as an object to bedisplayed on the life time calendar the birthday content of all usersregistered in the telephone book and the birthday content registered inthe personal information registration box. Therefore, when the nodisplay setting is thus selected, the birthday content is not displayedon the life time calendar.

The controller 12 activates an “ON/OFF” pulldown menu when the entry key25 is pressed with the filter setting menu of FIG. 4A being in-focus.The filter setting menu is used to set a determination as to whether todisplay a received e-mail having an e-mail address unregistered in thetelephone book on the life time calendar.

The user selects an “OFF” setting from the “ON/OFF” pulldown menu not todisplay the received e-mail content having an e-mail addressunregistered in the telephone book on the life time calendar. When theOFF setting is selected, the controller 12 excludes as an object to bedisplayed on the life time calendar the received e-mail content havingan e-mail address unregistered in the telephone book. The receivede-mail content having an e-mail address unregistered in the telephonebook is not displayed on the life time calendar.

To display the received e-mail content having an e-mail addressunregistered in the telephone book on the life time calendar, the userselects an “ON” setting from the “ON/OFF” pulldown menu. When the ONsetting is selected, the controller 12 displays the received e-mailcontent on the life time calendar regardless of whether the e-mailaddress is registered in the telephone book or not.

The filter setting menu is used to set a determination as to whether todisplay the received e-mail content having the e-mail addressunregistered in the telephone book. The filter setting menu may be usedto set a determination as to whether to display the transmitted e-mailcontent having the e-mail address unregistered in the telephone book.

The cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention has aremembrance popup function to display a popup window in the margin ofeach content item dated with a day one year before the in-focus date onthe life time calendar. The “remembrance display time” setting menu isused to set a determination as to whether to display a remembrance popupwindow, and to set time to the displaying of the remembrance popupwindow.

The controller 12 activates a “no display/quick/standard/slow” menu if aselection of the entry key 25 is detected with the remembrance displaytime menu of FIG. 4A being in-focus. When the displaying of theremembrance popup window is not needed, the user presses the entry key25 with the no display setting selected from the pulldown menu.Therefore, when the no display setting is selected, the controller 12does not display the remembrance popup window on the life time calendar.

Each setting of the “quick/standard/slow” menu is used to set the timeof the displaying of the remembrance popup window. More specifically, ifany date is continuously in focus on the life time calendar longer thana predetermined period time (a predetermined time has elapsed with nooperational input applied), the controller 12 displays in theremembrance popup window the content dated with a date before thein-focus date.

The quick/standard/slow menu is used to set time to the time before theappearance of the remembrance popup window. The user may select anysetting from the quick/standard/slow menu.

When the fast setting is selected, the controller 12 displays theremembrance popup window about 5 seconds after the stopping of the useroperation. When the standard setting is selected, the controller 12displays the remembrance popup window about 7.5 seconds after thestopping of the user operation. When the slow setting is selected, thecontroller 12 displays the remembrance popup window about 10 secondsafter the stopping of the user operation. The user can thus select thedesired setting from the quick/standard/slow menu as a time duration inthe displaying of the life time calendar from the start of no user inputto the displaying of the remembrance popup window.

The display operation of the life time calendar is described below. Forsimplicity, displayed on the life time calendar are the still imagecontent, the schedule content, the birthday content, the transmittede-mail content, and the received e-mail content with the moving imagecontent and the music content remaining undisplayed.

To display the life time calendar, the user selects to start the lifetime calendar from a main menu using the operation unit 6. When the lifetime calendar is selected, the controller 12 causes a calendar-formatlife time calendar of FIG. 5 on the display 5 as a default display inaccordance with the life time calendar application program stored on thememory 11.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a display control process performedby the controller 12 to display the calendar-format life time calendar.The display control process is started in accordance with the life timecalendar application program stored on the memory 11 when the controller12 detects a start command of the life time calendar input on theoperation unit 6 by the user.

In step S1, the controller 12 retrieves the time information indicatingthe present date and time measured by the timer 10. Processing proceedsto step S2. In step S2, the controller 12 reads the display setting andthe filter setting discussed with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B andstored on the memory 11. Processing proceeds to step S3.

In step S3, the controller 12 searches for the content dated with thepresent year and month read from the timer 10 in step S1, from among thecontent items permitted to be displayed on the life time calendar, inaccordance with the display setting and the filter setting read from thememory 11.

More specifically, in accordance with the display setting and the filtersetting, the still image content, the schedule content, the birthdaycontent, the transmitted e-mail content and the received e-mail contentare permitted to be displayed. If the present date retrieved from thetimer 10 is Sep. 13, 2005, the controller 12 searches the memory 11 forthe still image content having time information or storage informationdated with September 2005, the received e-mail content having receptiontime dated September 2005, the transmitted e-mail content havingtransmission time dated September 2005, the schedule content havingstart time dated September 2005, and the birthday content havingbirthday dated September 2005.

Similarly, only the still image content and the birthday content may bepermitted to be displayed in accordance with the display setting and thefilter setting, and the present date retrieved from the timer 10 may beOct. 1, 2006. The controller 12 searches the memory 11 for a still imagecontent item having time information or storage information datedOctober 2006 and a birthday content item having birthday dated October2006.

In step S4, the controller 12 displays the calendar-format life timecalendar on the display 5, and then displays the above-described contentitems in the calendar-format life time calendar. In step S5, a displayarea of the present day (a display area of a date on which the life timecalendar is started) is expanded to be larger than other display areas.The controller 12 focuses on the expanded display area, and the processof the flowchart of FIG. 6 thus ends.

The calendar-format life time calendar displayed as a result of theprocess represented in the flowchart of FIG. 6 is shown in FIG. 5. FIG.5 illustrates the calendar-format life time calendar in September 2005.The controller 12 focuses on Thursday, Sep. 13, 2005.

As shown in FIG. 5, the controller 12 displays, in the calendar-formatlife time calendar, date “Sep. 13, 2005” as the in-focus date and avariety of icons indicating the type of content items permitted to bedisplayed in accordance with the display setting and the filter setting(the variety of icons indicating current setting status). The controller12 displays the present month in numerical form (month index) on theleft edge portion of the display area. Since the present month isSeptember, “09” is displayed. The controller 12 displays the presentdate box different in color from the other dates for the user torecognize easily the present date.

FIG. 5 illustrates a variety of icons indicating setting states (thevariety of icons displayed next to each date). An icon of the birthdaycontent is represented by an image of a cake with candles standingthereon. An icon of the schedule content is represented by an image of acalendar and a pencil. An icon of the transmitted e-mail content isrepresented by an image of a sealed cover with an upward looking arrowthereon. An icon of the received e-mail content is represented by animage of a sealed cover with a downward looking arrow thereon. An iconof the still image content is represented by an image of a rectanglewith the top right corner thereof bent inwardly. The controller 12displays, from these icons, any icon of the content permitted to bedisplayed by the user in color, and any icon of the content notpermitted to be displayed by the user in gray (at half-brightnesslevel). Such a difference in display manner allows the user to recognizeat a glance the type of the content permitted to be displayed on thelife time calendar.

The controller 12 displays an icon of the content detected in step S3and/or a thumbnail image of the still image content in a display area ofeach date in the calendar-format life time calendar.

If a plurality of still image content items to be displayed in thedisplay area of the same date is present, the controller 12 selects asingle still image content item from among the plurality of still imagecontent items using a random number, and displays the thumbnail image ofthe selected still image content item in the display area of thecorresponding date. The displayed thumbnail image thus selected may beupdated at a predetermined timing using a “rating function” to bediscussed later.

The controller 12 expands the display area of the in-focus date, namely,Wednesday Sep. 13, 2005 to be larger than display areas of the otherdates, and displays in the expanded display area the icon of the contentand/or the thumbnail image of the still image content.

As shown in FIG. 5, only a sealed cover icon is displayed in the displayarea of Friday Sep. 1, 2005, indicating that one of a transmitted e-mailcontent item and a received e-mail content item is present on FridaySep. 1, 2005. A sealed cover icon and a birthday content icon aredisplayed on Sunday Sep. 3, 2005, indicating that one of a transmittede-mail content item and a received e-mail content item is present onFriday Sep. 3, 2005 and that Friday September 3 is the birthday of oneof persons and the user himself of the cellular phone. A sealed covericon, a schedule content icon, and a thumbnail image of still imagecontent are displayed in the display area of Monday Sep. 4, 2005,indicating that one of a transmitted e-mail content item and a receivede-mail content item, a schedule content item, and a still image contentitem are present on Monday Sep. 4, 2005.

The display area of the in-focus date, namely, Wednesday Sep. 13, 2005,is displayed in an expanded scale to be larger than the display areas ofthe other dates. Displayed in the expanded display area are a sealedcover icon, a schedule content icon, a birthday content icon, and athumbnail image of a still image content item. The expanded display areathus shows that one of a transmitted e-mail content item and a receivede-mail content item, and a schedule content item are present onWednesday Sep. 13, 2005 and that Wednesday September 13 is the birthdayof one of persons and the user himself of the cellular phone.

When the thumbnail image of the still image content is displayed in theexpanded display area, the controller 12 displays a thumbnail imageexpanded to be larger than thumbnail images displayed in the displayareas of the other dates. The user can thus easily recognize the stillimage content of the in-focus date. The icons, other than that thumbnailimage, displayed in the expanded display area have the same scale as theicons displayed in the display areas of the other dates.

When the calendar-format life time calendar is displayed, the controller12 displays an icon of each content item and/or a thumbnail image of astill image content item. The icon and the thumbnail image displayed inthe calendar-format life time calendar thus allows the user to recognizethe presence of each content item of each date at a glance.

If no content is present, neither icon nor thumbnail image is presenteither. The display area of any date having no content is naturallyblank in the calendar-format life time calendar. As shown in FIG. 5,Saturday Sep. 9, 2005 is a date having no content. By finding a blankdisplay area of any date, the user can quickly recognize that that datehas no corresponding content.

The received e-mail content item and the transmitted e-mail content itemare present as e-mails. If one of the received e-mail content item andthe transmitted e-mail content item is present, the controller 12displays a sealed cover item in the calendar-format life time calendarto indicate that the received e-mail content item and/or the transmittede-mail content item is present.

In other words, when the calendar-format life time calendar isdisplayed, the controller 12 indicates in a simple form the presence ofthe received e-mail content item and/or the transmitted e-mail contentitem by displaying the sealed cover icon. When a deview-format life timecalendar to be discussed later is displayed, a sealed cover icon with anupward looking arrow indicates the presence of a transmitted e-mailcontent item, and a sealed cover icon with a downward looking arrowindicates the presence of a received e-mail content item.

Since the display area for each date is limited, the presence of areceived e-mail content item and/or a transmitted e-mail content item isrepresentatively displayed using a sealed cover image icon. When alarger display area becomes available in the displaying of thedeview-format life time calendar to be discussed later, a receivede-mail content item and a transmitted e-mail content item are separatelydisplayed.

The user can shift a focusing area to any desired date in the life timecalendar by operating the operation unit 6. As shown in FIG. 5, thecontroller 12 focuses on September 13 as the present day in a defaultstate. If the user presses the right portion of the cross key 24 on theoperation unit 6, the controller 12 shifts the focusing area from 13thday, to 14th day, to the 15th day, to 16th day, to 17th day . . . inthat order. If the user presses the left portion of the cross key 24 onthe operation unit 6 with 13th day being in-focus, the controller 12shifts the focusing area from 13th day, to 12th day, to 11th day, to10th day, to 9th day, . . . in that order. If the user presses the upperportion of the cross key 24 on the operation unit 6 with the 13th daybeing in-focus, the controller 12 shifts the focusing area from 13thday, to 6th day, to August 30th day, . . . in that order. If the userpresses the lower portion of the cross key 24 on the operation unit 6with the 13th day being in-focus, the controller 12 shifts the focusingarea from 13th day, to 20th day, to 27th day, to October fourth day, . .. in that order.

Each time the cross key 24 is pressed, the controller 12 shifts thefocusing area. If the cross key 24 is continuously pressed, thecontroller 12 continuously performs focusing area shifting control inthis way throughout the pressing period. In the focusing area shiftingcontrol, the controller 12 successively detects content responsive toeach date displayed on the display 5, and displays the icon and thethumbnail image. The life time calendar is thus scrolled on the display5 in response to focusing area shifting.

The user can shift the focusing area by day in the calendar-format lifetime calendar by operating the cross key 24. The user may wish to switchthe content items displayed in the life time calendar by month or byyear.

In this case, the user may press the second soft key 27 of FIG. 2. Upondetecting the pressing of the second soft key 27 with thecalendar-format life time calendar displayed on the display 5, thecontroller 12 displays the life time calendar as an index screen of thecalendar view of FIG. 7 on the display 5.

In comparison of FIG. 5 with FIG. 7, upon detecting the pressing of thesecond soft key 27, the controller 12 displays vertically months innumerical form (month index) in the left edge portion of thecalendar-format life time calendar and year in numerical form (yearindex) in the left edge portion of the calendar-format life timecalendar. The year here indicates the year the months displayed on thedisplay 5 belong to.

The controller 12 focuses the display area of the month the in-focusdate belongs to the moment of the pressing of the second soft key 27.FIG. 7 illustrates the example of the life time calendar at the momentthe second soft key 27 is pressed with any date of September 2005 beingin focus. The controller 12 focuses here on the display area ofSeptember in numerical form.

The focusing area may be shifted along the month index by month andalong the year index by year. To shift the focusing area by month, theuser presses the upper portion or lower portion of the cross key 24 withany month in focus. If the user presses the upper portion of the crosskey 24 with September being in focus as shown in FIG. 7, the controller12 shifts the focusing area from 9 (September), to 8 (August), to 7(July), to 6 (June) . . . in that order. If the user presses the lowerportion of the cross key 24 with September being in focus, thecontroller 12 shifts from 9 (September) to 10 (October), to 11(November), to 12 (December) . . . in that order.

When the in-focus month is shifted along the month index, the controller12 searches the memory 11 for the content items corresponding to atarget (currently in-focus) month. The controller 12 displays the iconand the thumbnail image of the detected content on the calendar-formatlife time calendar of the target month. In this way, the icon and thethumbnail image displayed on the calendar-format life time calendar areswitched.

With the focusing area shifting from month to month, the controller 12switches the content in the calendar-format life time calendar by month.Alternatively, the content is not switched while the focusing area isshifting from month to month and but switched after the entry key 25 ispressed. In other words, the controller 12 displays in thecalendar-format life time calendar the content of the month being infocus at the moment the entry key 25 is pressed.

The user shifts the focusing area to a desired month (with the contentremaining unswitched), and then presses the entry key 25 with thefocusing area reaching the desired month. The controller 12 thusrecognizes that the content of the in-focus month is selected by theuser, detects the content of the in-focus month from the memory 11, andreturns the display screen from the index screen of the calendar view ofFIG. 7 to the standard screen of the calendar view of FIG. 5. The iconand the thumbnail image corresponding to the content are thus displayedin the calendar-format life time calendar. Since the content is switchedin the calendar-format life time calendar subsequent to the pressing ofthe entry key 25, the controller 12 is set free from the workloadinvolved in content switching performed at each focusing area shiftingcycle.

With any month in focus, the display area of each date (the display areaof the icon and the thumbnail image for each content item) may bedisplayed at half-brightness level, for example. The user can thuseasily recognize that the in-focus month is active.

To shift the focusing area by year, the user presses the left portion ofthe cross key 24 with the display area of any month being in focus. Upondetecting the pressing of the left portion of the cross key 24 with thedisplay area of any month being in focus, the controller 12 focuses onthe display area of the year the in-focus month belongs to. In this way,the display screen can be switched by year.

Upon detecting the pressing of the upper portion of the cross key 24with the year being in focus, the controller 12 shifts the focusing areafrom 2005 to 2004, to 2003, . . . in that order as shown in FIG. 7.Similarly, upon detecting the pressing of the lower portion of the crosskey 24 with the year being in focus, the controller 12 shifts thefocusing area from 2005, to 2006, to 2007, . . . in that order.

By performing the focusing area shifting control by year, the controller12 detects from the memory 11 the content of the in-focus monthimmediately prior to the focus shifting from the month index to the yearindex, and displays the icon and the thumbnail image of the detectedcontent in the calendar-format life time calendar.

More specifically, the user may shift the focusing area to the displayarea of 2005 in the year index with September being in focus in themonth index. The controller 12 detects a variety of content items forSeptember 2005 from the memory 11, and displays the content and thethumbnail image for the detected content item in the calendar-formatlife time calendar.

Similarly, the user may shift the focusing area to the display area of2004 in the year index with July being in focus in the month index. Thecontroller 12 detects a variety of content items for July 2004 from thememory 11, and displays the icon and the thumbnail image of the detectedcontent item in the calendar-format life time calendar. The user mayshift the focusing area from the display area of 2004 to the displayarea of 2003 in the year index. The controller 12 detects a variety ofcontent items of July 2003 and displays the content and the thumbnailimage of the detected content item in the calendar-format life timecalendar. In this way, the icon and the thumbnail image displayed in thecalendar-format life time calendar are switched and displayed by year.

The controller 12 here switches the content displayed in thecalendar-format life time calendar while the focusing area is shifted inthe year index. Alternatively, the content displayed in thecalendar-format life time calendar is not switched while the focusingarea is being shifted in the year index but switched as discussed below.

With any year being in focus in the year index, the controller 12performs the focusing area shifting control on the month index at thetiming the pressing of the entry key 25 is detected. With any monthbeing in focus in the month index, the controller 12 detects thepressing of the entry key 25 on the year index and the month index anddisplays the content of the year and the month being in focus at thedetection timing in the calendar-format life time calendar.

In other words, the user presses the entry key 25 after shifting thefocusing area to a desired year in the year index (with the contentremaining unswitched), and then presses the entry key 25 after shiftingthe focusing area to a desired month in the month index (with thecontent still remaining unswitched).

The controller 12 recognizes that the content of the year and the monthbeing in focus at the detection of the pressing of the entry key 25 isselected by the user. The controller 12 thus detects the contentcorresponding to the year and the month being in focus from the memory11, returns the display screen from the index screen of the calendarview of FIG. 7 to the standard screen of the calendar view of FIG. 5,and then displays the icon and the thumbnail image corresponding to thecontent in the calendar-format life time calendar. Since the content isdisplayed in the calendar-format life time calendar after the pressingof the entry key 25, the controller 12 is set free from the workloadinvolved in content switching performed at each focusing area shiftingcycle.

While the focusing area is in the year index and the month index, thedisplay area of each date (the display area of the icon and thethumbnail image for each content) may be displayed at half-brightnesslevel, for example. The user can thus easily recognize that the yearindex and the month index are active.

The cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention allows thecalendar-format life time calendar to be on a standby screen mode. Theuser might set the life time calendar to be on a standby screen modeusing the operation unit 6. To display the standby screen on the display5, the controller 12 detects from the memory 11 the content matching thedisplay setting and the filter setting from among content items of thepresent date retrieved from the timer 10 as described with reference toFIG. 6. The controller 12 displays the icon and/or the thumbnail imageof the still image content found in the memory 11 in the calendar-formatlife time calendar corresponding to the present year and the presentmonth. The controller 12 also focuses on the display area of the presentday.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a calendar-format life time calendardisplayed as a standby screen. As shown in FIG. 8, the present dateretrieved from the timer 10 is Sep. 13, 2004. The controller 12 displaysthe calendar-format life time calendar of September 2004 as a standbyscreen on the display 5. The controller 12 now focuses on the presentdate, namely, September 13.

When the user sets beforehand a predetermined standby image, thecontroller 12 displays the standby image at half-brightness level,superimposed in the calendar-format life time calendar. In standbyscreen displayed on the display 5, the standby image is seen through thecalendar-format life time calendar.

The thumbnail image displayed in the calendar-format life time calendar,including the life time calendar having the standby screen settherewithin, is updated every predetermined time.

If a plurality of still image content items is displayed on the displayarea of the same date, the controller 12 selects a single still imagecontent item from the plurality of still image content items using arandom number, and then displays the selected still image content itemon the display area. The controller 12 updates the thumbnail image ofthe still image content item to a thumbnail image of another still imagecontent item at a predetermined timing based on the “rating function.”

When the user starts the life time calendar application program, thecontroller 12 updates the thumbnail image (see FIG. 5) displayed in thecalendar-format life time calendar and the thumbnail image (see FIG. 8)displayed in the calendar-format life time calendar set as a standbyscreen. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a periodic update process ofthe thumbnail image.

Regardless of whether the main power of the cellular phone is switchedon or not, the controller 12 continuously performs the periodic updateprocess of FIG. 9 in accordance with the life time calendar applicationprogram.

For example, the cellular phone of one embodiment of the presentinvention performs the periodic update process twice a day, at 00:00 atmidnight and 12:00 at noon. In step S11, the controller 12 monitors thepresent time counted by the timer 10, and proceeds to step S12 at themoment the present time reaches 00:00 at midnight or 12:00 at noon as anupdate time of the thumbnail image.

In step S12, the controller 12 determines whether the life time calendaris currently in operation. If it is determined in step S12 that the lifetime calendar is currently in operation, processing proceeds to stepS16. If it is determined in step S12 that the life time calendar iscurrently not in operation, processing proceeds to step S13.

Since the life time calendar is currently in operation, the controller12 waits in step S16 until the end of the displaying of the life timecalendar. The controller 12 then proceeds to step S13. While the lifetime calendar is in operation, the controller 12 does not update thethumbnail image. It is perfectly acceptable that the controller 12 mayupdate the thumbnail image even if the life time calendar is inoperation.

If it is determined in step S12 that the life time calendar is not inoperation, or if the end of displaying of the life time calendar isdetected in step S16, processing proceeds to step S13. The controller 12determines whether the life time calendar is set for the standby screen(see FIG. 8). If it is determined in step S13 that the life timecalendar is set for the standby screen, processing proceeds to step S17.If it is determined in step S13 that the life time calendar is not setfor the standby screen, processing proceeds to step S14.

In step S17, the controller 12 detects all dates, each date having aplurality of still image content items, from among dates having athumbnail image displayed on the life time calendar of the standbyscreen. For each detected date, the controller 12 detects one stillimage content item from the still image content items other than thecurrently displayed still image content item using a random number,produces a thumbnail image of the detected still image content item, andthen displays the thumbnail image on the display area of thecorresponding date.

The thumbnail image displayed in the calendar-format life time calendarset for the standby screen is updated at the timing of 00:00 and atmidnight and 12:00 at noon.

In step S14, the controller 12 waits on standby for the start operationof the life time calendar by the user.

Upon detecting the start operation of the life time calendar by the userin step S14, the controller 12 proceeds to step S15. The calendar-formatlife time calendar is displayed on the display 5 as previously discussedwith reference to FIG. 6. On each date having a plurality of still imagecontent items, the controller 12 detects one still image content itemusing a random number from among the still image content items otherthan the still image content item displayed prior to the startoperation, produces the thumbnail image of the detected still imagecontent item, and then displays the thumbnail image on the display areaof the corresponding date.

If the life time calendar is started across 00:00 at midnight or 12:00at noon, one of one thumbnail image prior to the start time and anotherthumbnail image subsequent to the start time, different from each other,is displayed in the calendar-format life time calendar.

The focusing area might stay on one of the display area of each of thedates in the calendar-format life time calendar and a plurality of stillimage content items might be present on the in-focus date. Thecontroller 12 updates the thumbnail image, displayed on the display areaof the in-focus date, every predetermined time. FIG. 10 is a flowchartillustrating the update process of the thumbnail image. The updateprocess of FIG. 10 is started in accordance with the life time calendarapplication program stored on the memory 11 when the calendar-formatlife time calendar is displayed on the display 5.

In step S21, the controller 12 monitors the operational status of theoperation unit 6, thereby determining whether the focusing area shiftingoperation has been performed. More specifically, when thecalendar-format life time calendar is displayed, the controller 12focuses on the display area of the present day (display area ofSeptember 13 in the example of FIG. 5) in a default setting. Thefocusing area can be shifted leftward, rightward, up or down byoperating the cross key 24 of FIG. 2A. In step S21, the controller 12monitors the operational status of the cross key 24, thereby determiningwhether the focusing area shifting operation has been performed. If itis determined in step S21 that no focusing area shifting operation hasbeen performed, processing proceeds to step S22. If it is determined instep S21 that the focusing area shifting operation has been performed,processing proceeds to step S25.

In step S25, the controller 12 controls the shifting of the focusingarea displayed on the display 5 in response to the operation of theentry key 25 by the user. The controller 12 displays the display area ofthe target date, namely, the in-focus date in an expanded scale largerthan the display areas of the other dates, displays the icon and thethumbnail image of the corresponding content in the expanded displayarea of the target date, and then returns to step S21.

In step S22, the controller 12 determines, based on the time informationmeasured by the timer 10, whether 3 seconds have elapsed since thefocusing area shifting operation was not detected. More specifically, instep S22, the controller 12 monitors the continuous focusing areastay-put time. If it is determined in step S22 that a continuousfocusing area stay-put time of 3 seconds has not elapsed, processingreturns to step S21. At the moment a continuous focusing area stay-puttime of 3 seconds has elapsed, processing proceeds to step S23.

In step S23, the controller 12 searches the memory 11 for the stillimage content of the in-focus date, thereby determining whether thein-focus date has a plurality of still image content items. If it isdetermined in step S23 that the in-focus date does not have a pluralityof still image content items, processing returns to step S21. If it isdetermined in step S23 that the in-focus date has a plurality of stillimage content items, processing proceeds to step S24.

In step S24, the controller 12 randomly selects a still image contentitem other than the currently displayed still image content item fromthe plurality of still image content items of the in-focus date using arandom number. The controller 12 then produces a thumbnail image of theselected still image content item. The controller 12 updates thethumbnail image currently displayed on the display area of the in-focusdate with the newly produced thumbnail image and then returns to stepS21.

If the focusing area continuously stays on the in-focus date having theplurality of still image content items, the thumbnail image is updatedevery 3 seconds. By simply allowing the focusing area to staycontinuously on the display area of a desired date, the user can watchthe thumbnail image updated every 3 seconds, and check the still imagecontent items on the date.

In this way, if the focusing area continuously stay on the display areaof the same date for 3 seconds or longer, the update process of thethumbnail image is performed. The time period of “3 seconds” is oneexample only. The thumbnail image update process may be performed if thefocusing area continuously stays on the same date for 5 seconds or more,or the thumbnail image update process may be performed if the focusingarea continuously stays on the same date for 10 seconds or more. Thisupdate threshold time may be freely set by the user in the setting menu.

The user can recognize the “presence” of a variety of content items ofeach date by watching the icon and the thumbnail image displayed on thedisplay area of the date in the calendar-format life time calendar. Torecognize the “content” of each content item of each date, the user candisplay a deview of the life time calendar. Titles of each content itemcorresponding to each date are displayed in the deview-format life timecalendar. The user can thus roughly check a desired content item byviewing the deview-format life time calendar.

To check the “detailed content” of a desired content item, the userselects the desired content item on the life time calendar. Anapplication program dedicated to the content selected by the user isthus started. The selected content is thus displayed or reproduced. Theuser can recognize the “detailed content” of the content item ofinterest.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a process from the selection of acontent item in the deview-format life time calendar to the processingof the selected content item on the dedicated application program. Theprocess of the flowchart of FIG. 11 is started in accordance with thelife time calendar application program stored on the memory 11 when thecontroller 12 detects the pressing of the entry key 25 during thedisplaying of the deview-format life time calendar.

In step S31, the controller 12 displays the deview-format life timecalendar on the display 5 referenced to the date that is in-focus in thecalendar-format life time calendar at the detection of the pressing ofthe entry key 25. If a date has a plurality of content items, thecontroller 12 vertically arranges the content items in the order ofpredetermined priority from top to bottom on the display 5. In a defaultsetting, the controller 12 focuses the top content item (having thehighest order of priority) of the content items of the in-focus date.FIG. 12 illustrates such a deview-format life time calendar.

The deview-format life time calendar may be displayed as a “list displayscreen” of FIG. 12 and a “thumbnail display screen” of FIG. 13. Toswitch the life time calendar from the calendar-format life timecalendar to the deview-format life time calendar, the controller 12displays the list display screen of FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 illustrates a list display screen of the deview-format life timecalendar referenced to Sep. 13, 2005 as the in-focus date in thecalendar-format life time calendar. As shown in FIG. 12, the controller12 displays, in the deview-format life time calendar, the present daysuch as “Sep. 13, 2005” and a birthday content icon and a schedulecontent icon the user permits to be displayed in accordance with thedisplay setting and the filter setting.

The controller 12 vertically displays the day index in the left-edgeportion of the display 5 corresponding to the number of content items.As shown in FIG. 12, September 12 includes a single content item, andthe day index of September 12 has a day index having a vertical lengthcorresponding to a single content item. In contrast, September 13 hasthree content items, and the length of the day index of September 13 hasa vertical length of three content items.

If no content is present, the controller 12 displays no dates in the dayindex. As shown in FIG. 12, no content items are present between August28 and September 12, and the controller 12 displays the content item onAugust 28 and the content items on September 12 next to each other. Thisarrangement prevents blank areas from being caused in the deview-formatlife time calendar even if many dates are without content.

If a plurality of content items is present on a date like September 13as shown in FIG. 12, the controller 12 displays the content items inaccordance with the priority order. As one example, the priority orderin the displaying of the content items is set as described below.

If a plurality of content items of the same date is different in timeinformation (time of each content item of the same date is different),the controller 12 arranges the content items in the following order:

1. birthday content,2. schedule content for all day long, and3. photographing time (storage time) of still image content/start timeof schedule/reception time of received e-mail content/transmission timeof transmitted e-mail content.

If a plurality of content items of the same date has the same timeinformation, the controller 12 arranges the content items in thefollowing order:

1. still image content,2. received e-mail content,3. transmitted e-mail content, and4. schedule content.

If a plurality of content items has the time information indicating thesame time, the controller 12 arranges and displays the content items inthe order that is applied in the application program for reproducing thecontent items. If a plurality of schedule content items for all day longis present, the controller 12 arranges and displays the schedule contentitems in the order of registration in the schedule book (i.e., in theregistration order from new to old). If a plurality of schedule contentitems having the same start time is present, the controller 12 arrangesand displays the schedule content items in the order of registration inthe schedule book (i.e., in the registration order from new to old). Ifa plurality of birthday content items of the same day is present, thecontroller 12 arranges and displays the birthday content items in theorder of registration in the telephone book (i.e., in the registrationorder in the telephone book). If the date of the birthday content itemof a person registered in the telephone book is identical the date ofthe user birthday content item registered in the personal informationregistration box (birthday content item of the user himself), thecontroller 12 places a priority to the date of the user birthday contentitem registered in the personal information registration box.

The controller 12 indicates the content of each content item bydisplaying the following metadata.

To display the “birthday content,” the controller 12 display a username, a birthday content icon (an icon of an image of a birthday cakewith candles standing thereon), a frame image (an image serving as anoutline of the user name), and a thumbnail image of the user registeredin the telephone book.

To display the “still image content,” the controller 12 displaysphotographing time/storage time, a thumbnail image, a management title,a file-type icon, and a source icon.

To display the “received e-mail content,” the controller 12 displays areceived e-mail icon, reception time, a from icon, transmission sourcename/transmission source address, an attached data icon, a transmissionsource image registered in the telephone book, a subject icon, andsubject data.

To display the “transmitted e-mail content,” the controller 12 displaysa transmitted mail icon, transmission time, a to icon, destinationname/destination address, a plural-person icon, an attached data icon, adestination image registered in the telephone book, a subject icon, andsubject data.

To display the “schedule content,” the controller 12 displays a scheduleicon, start time of a schedule, a type icon, data representing schedulesummary/content, an alarm icon, and data indicating alarm ON/OFFsetting.

As shown in FIG. 12, the controller 12 displays the content items ondate September 13 in the above-described priority order, i.e., thebirthday content, the schedule content, and the still image content inthat order. When the birthday content is displayed, the controller 12displays the birthday icon of an image of a cake with candles standingthereon and a frame image as a display outline, and further a user name“Williams” in the center of the frame image. Upon viewing thedeview-format life time calendar, the user can immediately recognizethat September 13 is Williams's birthday.

To display the schedule content, the controller 12 displays the starttime of a schedule such as “18:46,” an image of a calendar and a pencilas a schedule icon, an image of a cocktail glass as a type iconindicating the type of the schedule, schedule summary/content data suchas “lunch with Smith in the Fifth Avenue,” an image of a bell as analarm icon, and data indicating the alarm ON/OFF setting. Upon viewingthe deview-format life time calendar, the user can immediately recognizethat he is going to have lunch with Smith in the Fifth Avenue from 18:46on September 13.

When a character string is displayed, the controller 12 truncates thecharacter string to the predetermined number of characters. The textreading “lunch with Smith in the Fifth Avenue” can be incomplete. Thecharacter size may be contracted so that a full text may be displayed orthe text may be scrolled using the cross key 24.

To display the still image content, the controller 12 displays thephotographing time/storage time such as “13:00,” a still image iconindicating that the content is a still image item, a thumbnail image ofthe still image content, a management title such as “taking a walk withthe dog,” a file-type icon indicating a file type and a file size, and asource icon indicating that the still image content has beenphotographed by the camera 8. Upon viewing the deview-format life timecalendar, the user can immediately recognize that a still image contentitem photographed at September 13, 3:00 during a walk with the dog ispresent.

If a plurality of users, for example, Williams and Johnson, have thesame birthday, September 13 registered in the telephone book and thepersonal information registration box, the controller 12 displays thebirthday content of Williams and Johnson on the display area ofSeptember 13. Similarly, if there is a plurality of still image contentitems on September 13, the controller 12 arranges and displays the stillimage content items in the order of photographing time.

The user can check roughly the “content” of a desired content itembecause the content of the desired item is displayed when the screen isswitched from calendar-format life time calendar to the deview-formatlife time calendar.

In step S31 of FIG. 11, the list display screen of the deview-formatlife time calendar is displayed. The controller 12 proceeds to step S32.In step S32, the controller 12 monitors the operational status of theoperation unit 6, thereby determining whether the display screen isswitched.

The display screen of the deview-format life time calendar includes the“list display screen” of FIG. 12 and the “thumbnail display screen” ofFIG. 13. The user can switch the screen switching by pressing the firstsoft key 26 of FIG. 2. In step S32, the controller 12 thus determineswhether the screen switching is performed by determining whether thefirst soft key 26 has been pressed. If it is determined in step S32 thatthe first soft key 26 has been pressed, processing proceeds to step S37.If it is determined in step S32 that the first soft key 26 has not beenpressed, processing proceeds to step S33.

In step S37, the controller 12 switches the display screen from the listdisplay screen of FIG. 12 to the thumbnail display screen of FIG. 13.

When the deview-format life time calendar is displayed in the thumbnaildisplay screen, the controller 12 displays the presence of each contentitem mainly by the thumbnail image and the icon. FIG. 13 illustrates thedeview-format life time calendar in the thumbnail display screen. If ane-mail content item received September 12, 8:31 is present as shown inFIG. 13, the controller 12 searches the telephone book for a user as asource of the received e-mail, and displays the thumbnail image ofanother user on the display area of September 12. The reception time andthe received e-mail icon are displayed on the thumbnail image. Uponviewing the deview-format life time calendar in the thumbnail image, theuser recognizes the presence of the received e-mail content itemreceived September 12, 8:31, from the other user represented by thethumbnail image.

If a birthday content item of a user who has the birthday on September13 is present, the controller 12 searches the telephone book for thethumbnail image of the user having the birthday on September 13, anddisplays the thumbnail image on the display area of September 13. Thecontroller 12 also displays the birthday icon on the thumbnail image.Upon viewing the deview-format life time calendar in the thumbnaildisplay screen, the user immediately recognizes that September 13 is thebirthday of another user represented by the thumbnail image.

If a schedule content item having the start time at September 13, 18:46is present, the controller 12 displays a type icon of that schedule onthe display area on September 13. The controller 12 displays on the typeicon the start time of the schedule and a schedule icon indicating thatthe content is the schedule content. Upon viewing the thumbnail displayscreen, the user recognizes that the schedule represented by the typeicon is planned at September 13, 18:46.

If a still image content item photographed at September 13, 13:00 ispresent, the controller 12 displays a thumbnail image of the still imagecontent item on the display area of September 13. The controller 12displays on the thumbnail image the photographing time and a still imageicon indicating that the content is a still image. Upon viewing thethumbnail image, the user recognizes that a still image content itemphotographed at September 13, 13:00 is present.

If the thumbnail image of the user corresponding to the birthday contentis registered in neither the telephone book nor the personal informationregistration box, the controller 12 displays the user name registered inthe telephone book or the personal information registration box insteadof the thumbnail image.

If the thumbnail image of the user corresponding to the received andtransmitted e-mail content items is not registered in the telephonebook, the controller 12 displays the user name registered in thetelephone book instead of the thumbnail image.

If the type icon indicating the type of the schedule content is notregistered in the schedule book, the controller 12 displays only thestart time of the schedule and the schedule icon.

The list display screen of FIG. 12 shows the thumbnail image, the icon,and the title representing each content item, thereby permitting theuser to recognize roughly the content of each content item. The listdisplay screen of FIG. 12 is unable to show many content items at atime. The thumbnail display screen of FIG. 13 shows the content itemsusing the thumbnail image and the icon, thereby permitting many contentitems to be displayed at a time.

If it is determined in step S32 in the flowchart of FIG. 11 that noscreen switching between the list display screen and the thumbnaildisplay screen is detected, processing proceeds to step S33. Thecontroller 12 determines whether the focusing area is shifted to the dayindex.

When the controller 12 detects the pressing of the second soft key 27with any content item being in focus in the deview-format life timecalendar in the list display screen, processing proceeds to step S39.The controller 12 shifts the focusing area to the date in the day indexcorresponding to the in-focus content.

Upon detecting the pressing of the second soft key 27 with the focusingarea staying on the birthday content of Williams of FIG. 12, thecontroller 12 focuses on September 13 as the date on the day indexshowing the birthday content of Williams. If the date on the day indexis set to be in focus, the focusing area shifting by day can beperformed.

When the focusing area shifting is performed by day, the user shifts thefocusing area to the day index and then presses the upper or lowerportion of the cross key 24. In step S40, the controller 12 detects thepressing of the upper or lower portion of the cross key 24. Upondetecting the pressing of the upper or lower portion of the cross key24, the controller 12 shifts the focusing area on the day index by day.

Upon detecting the upper portion of the cross key 24 with the focusingarea staying on the 13th day on the day index in FIG. 12, the controller12 successively shifts the focusing area on the dates on the day indexfrom 13th day, to 12th day, to August 28th day, to August 27th day, . .. in that order.

Upon detecting the lower portion of the cross key 24 with the focusingarea staying on the 13th day on the day index in FIG. 12, the controller12 successively shifts the focusing area on the dates on the day indexfrom 13th day, to 14th day, to 15th day, . . . in that order.

The content items displayed in the deview-format life time calendar arethus updated by day.

In the cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention, theentry key 25 is designed to be pressed in order to return the focusingarea moving around the day index back to the display area of the contentitems. In step S42, the controller 12 monitors a return operation. Whenthe entry key 25 is pressed, the controller 12 proceeds to step S43. Thefocusing area is thus shifted from the day index top the display area ofeach content item.

If it is determined in step S33 that the shifting of the focusing areato the day index is not detected, the controller 12 proceeds to step S34to determine whether the focusing area shifting has been performed. Thefocusing area focusing on the display area of each content item can beshifted in response to the pressing of the upper or lower portion of thecross key 24. In step S34, the controller 12 monitors the pressing ofthe upper or lower portion of the cross key 24. Upon detecting thepressing of the upper or lower portion of the cross key 24, thecontroller 12 proceeds to step S38. In response to the detection of theupper or lower portion of the cross key 24, the controller 12 shifts thefocusing area by content item.

The controller 12 might detect the pressing of the upper portion of thecross key 24 with the birthday of Williams' being in focus as shown inFIG. 12. The controller 12 then shifts the focusing area from thebirthday content of Williams' to the e-mail content received fromWilliams to the transmitted e-mail content transmitted to Johnson . . .in that order by content item.

The controller 12 might detect the pressing of the lower portion of thecross key 24 with the birthday of Williams' being in focus as shown inFIG. 12. The controller 12 then shifts the focusing area from theschedule content having a title of “lunch with Smith in the FifthAvenue” to a still image content item having a title “taking a walk withthe dog” to a birthday content of Smith, . . . in that order by contentitem.

The deview-format life time calendar shows roughly the “content” of eachcontent item. To view the “detailed content” of a desired content item,the user shifts the focusing area by day or by content item as describedabove, and presses the entry key 25 with the focusing area focusing thedesired content item. In step S35 of FIG. 11, the controller 12determines whether the entry key 25 has been pressed. More specifically,in step S35, the controller 12 determines whether the entry key 25 hasbeen pressed to display the detailed content of the in-focus contentitem or reproduce the in-focus content. If it is determined in step S35that the entry key 25 has been pressed, processing proceeds to step S36.The controller 12 starts an application program dedicated to thein-focus content item from the memory 11, processes the in-focus contentitem in accordance with the application program, and thus completes theentire process illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 11.

More specifically, upon detecting the pressing of the entry key 25 withthe focusing area focusing on the still image content in thedeview-format life time calendar, the controller 12 starts the cameracontrol program stored on the memory 11, and displays the still imagecontent on the display 5 using the viewer function of the camera controlprogram. In this way, the user can recognize the detail content of thestill image content item selected in the deview-format life timecalendar.

When the pressing of the entry key 25 is detected with the focusing areafocusing on one of the received e-mail content item and the transmittede-mail content item in the deview-format life time calendar, thecontroller 12 starts the e-mail management program stored on the memory11, and displays the body of one of the received e-mail content item andthe transmitted e-mail content item in accordance with the e-mailmanagement program. The user can thus recognize the detail content ofthe received e-mail content item and the transmitted e-mail content itemselected in the deview-format life time calendar.

Similarly, when the pressing of the entry key 25 is detected with thefocusing area focusing on the schedule content in the deview-format lifetime calendar, the controller 12 starts the schedule management programstored on the memory 11, and displays the content of the schedulecontent item in accordance with the schedule management program. Theuser can thus recognize the detail content of the schedule content itemselected in the deview-format life time calendar.

Similarly, when the pressing of the entry key 25 is detected with thefocusing area focusing on the birthday content in the deview-format lifetime calendar, the controller 12 displays on the display 5 the userregistration box corresponding to the birthday content stored in thetelephone book on the memory 11 or the personal information registrationbox of the user in the cellular phone. In this way, the telephone numberand the e-mail address of the user corresponding to the birthday contentare displayed on the display 5. Via telephone or e-mail, the user caneasily contact a friend of the user's.

In the above discussion, the controller 12 starts the applicationprogram corresponding to the desired content when the entry key 25 ispressed with the focusing area focusing on the desired content on thedeview-format life time calendar in the list display screen. The same istrue of the deview-format life time calendar in the thumbnail displayscreen. More specifically, upon detecting the pressing of the entry key25 with the thumbnail display screen of FIG. 13 presented, thecontroller 12 starts the application program corresponding to thecontent being in focus on the thumbnail display screen. The user canrecognize the detailed content of the in-focus content item in thethumbnail display screen as in the list display screen.

The display area of a date, such as September 9, having no contentremains blank as shown in FIG. 5. The entry key 25 might be pressed withthe focusing area shifted to the date having no content in thecalendar-format life time calendar. In such as case, the controller 12displays a “new schedule production content item” to be discussed below.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a display process of the newschedule production content item. The display process is started inaccordance with the life time calendar application program when thecontroller 12 detects the pressing of the entry key 25 with the focusingarea focusing on any date in the calendar-format life time calendar.

In step S51, the controller 12 determines whether there is a contentitem corresponding to a date selected in the calendar-format life timecalendar (an in-focus date). If it is determined in step S51 that anycontent item corresponding to the date being in focus is present in thecalendar-format life time calendar, the controller 12 proceeds to stepS31 in the flowchart of FIG. 11 to display the deview-format life timecalendar in the list display screen on the display 5.

If it is determined in step S51 that there is no content itemcorresponding to the in-focus item in the calendar-format life timecalendar, the controller 12 proceeds to step S52. As shown in FIG. 15,the controller 12 displays the deview-format life time calendar in thelist display screen on the display 5. The controller 12 newly arrangesin the deview-format life time calendar a display area of the in-focusdate in the calendar-format life time calendar, and displays a textmessage “producing new schedule” and an icon on the newly arranged thedisplay area.

In the case of the deview-format life time calendar, the controller 12does not display the display area of any date having no content. When adate having no content is selected in the calendar-format life timecalendar, the controller 12 arranges a display area of the date havingno content in the deview-format life time calendar, displays the textmessage “producing new schedule” and the icon, and then focuses on thedisplay area.

As shown in FIG. 15, Sep. 9, 2005 having no content is selected in thecalendar-format life time calendar. The display area is newly arrangedfor Sep. 9, 2005 in the deview-format life time calendar, and then thetext message “producing new schedule” and the icon are then displayed inthe display area.

In step S53, the controller 12 determines whether the entry key 25 hasbeen pressed with the focusing area focusing on the display area havingthe text message “producing new schedule” and the icon. The pressing ofthe entry key 25 means that the user desires to register a new scheduleon the date having no content. The controller 12 thus proceeds to stepS36 in the flowchart of FIG. 11, thereby starting the schedulemanagement program. A new schedule production screen is thus displayed.The user can thus register the new schedule in the schedule book. Thecontroller 12 then displays a schedule content item of the newlyregistered schedule in the calendar-format life time calendar or thedeview-format life time calendar.

Even when the display screen is switched from the list display screen tothe thumbnail display screen, the text message “producing new schedule”is displayed. More specifically, after displaying the text message“producing new schedule” and the icon in the deview-format life timecalendar in the list display screen, the controller 12 detects thedisplay screen switching to the thumbnail display screen in step S32 inthe flowchart of FIG. 11. In step S37, the controller 12 displays thethumbnail display screen having the display area of the correspondingdate corresponding to only the icon for the text message “producing newschedule” as shown in FIG. 16.

As shown in FIG. 15, the text message “producing new schedule” and theicon are displayed in the list display screen. In the thumbnail displayscreen, however, only the icon indicating that the content is a newlyproduced schedule content item is displayed as shown in FIG. 16.

The pressing of the entry key 25 might be detected with the focusingarea focusing on the “producing new schedule” icon in the thumbnaildisplay screen. The controller 12 proceeds to step S36 in the flowchartof FIG. 11. The controller 12 then starts the schedule managementprogram, thereby displaying the new schedule production screen. The userregisters the new schedule on the new schedule production screendisplayed in accordance with the schedule management program. Thecontroller 12 displays the schedule content of the newly registeredschedule when one of the calendar-format life time calendar and thedeview-format life time calendar is displayed.

When any date is in focus for a predetermined time or longer in one ofthe calendar-format life time calendar and the deview-format life timecalendar, the controller 12 displays a content item on a date before thein-focus date (in remembrance popup display function). FIG. 17 is aflowchart of a remembrance popup display function.

The controller 12 performs the process illustrated in the flowchart ofFIG. 17 in accordance with the life time calendar application programstored on the memory 11. The controller 12 starts the process at thedetection of the start of the stay-put period of the focusing areafocusing on the display area of any date in the calendar-format lifetime calendar discussed with reference to FIG. 5, or at the detection ofthe start of the focusing area stay-put period of the focusing areafocusing on the display area of any date in the deview-format life timecalendar. In other words, the controller 12 starts the processillustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 17 when the controller 12 detectsthe start of the stay-put period of the focusing area staying put on anydate in one of the calendar-format life time calendar and thedeview-format life time calendar.

In step S61, the controller 12 reads a predetermined remembrance displaytime from the memory 11, and counts, in accordance with the timinginformation measured by the timer 10, time that has elapsed since thedetection of the focusing area stay-put period. The controller 12 thusdetermines whether the counted time has exceeded the predeterminedremembrance display time.

In the cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention, thecontroller 12 can set time to the remembrance popup display from the“fast/standard/slow” pulldown menu as discussed with reference to FIG.4A. When the fast setting is selected, the controller 12 displays theremembrance popup window about 5 seconds after the detection of thestopping of the focusing area shifting. When the standard setting isselected, the controller 12 displays the remembrance popup window about7.5 seconds after the detection of the stopping of the focusing areashifting. When the slow setting is selected, the controller 12 displaysthe remembrance popup window about 10 seconds after the detection of thestopping of the focusing area shifting.

When the “fast” setting is selected, the controller 12 determines instep S61 whether “5 seconds” have elapsed since the detection of thestopping of the focusing area shifting. When the “standard” setting isselected, the controller 12 determines in step S61 whether “7.5 seconds”have elapsed since the detection of the stopping of the focusing areashifting. When the “slow” setting is selected, the controller 12determines in step S61 whether “10 seconds” have elapsed since thedetection of the stopping of the focusing area shifting. The controller12 proceeds to step S62 when the time elapse from the detection of thestopping of the focus area shifting has reached the predeterminedremembrance display time.

In step S62, the controller 12 searches the memory 11 for a content itemhaving oldest time information (having the oldest date) from among avariety of content items. Processing proceeds to step S63.

In step S63, the controller 12 compares the time information attached tothe content having the oldest date detected in step S62 with the timeinformation indicating the present date acquired from the timer 10. Thecontroller 12 thus determines whether the oldest date of the contentdetected in step S62 is at least one year or more before the presentdate. If it is determined in step S63 that the oldest date of thecontent detected in step S62 is at least one year or more before thepresent date, processing proceeds to step S69. If it is determined instep S63 that the oldest date of the content detected in step S62 iswithin one year old from the present date, processing proceeds to stepS64.

In step S69, the controller 12 searches the memory 11 for a content itemof a predetermined type on a date one year before the in-focus date or adate close to the date one year before the in-focus date in one of thecalendar-format life time calendar and the deview-format life timecalendar. If it is determined in step S69 that a content item of apredetermined type on a date one year before the in-focus date or a dateclose to the date one year before the in-focus date is not detected fromthe memory 11, the controller 12 searches the memory 11 for a contentitem of a predetermined type on a date two years before the in-focusdate or a date close to the date two years before the in-focus date.

In the cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention, thecontent items are displayed in the remembrance popup display functionwith the following priority order:

1. the still image content photographed by the camera 8,2. one of the received e-mail content and transmitted e-mail contentprotected,3. the schedule content,4. the still image content downloaded via a network, and5. one of the received e-mail content and transmitted e-mail contentunprotected.

The controller 12 searches the memory 11 for a variety of content itemsin accordance with this priority order when the remembrance popupdisplaying is performed.

The content detection process performed in step S69 is described more indetail below. The controller 12 detects the presence or absence of acontent item on a date one year before the in-focus date. If any contentitem on the date one year before the in-focus date cannot be detected,the controller 12 detects the presence or absence of a content item on adate two years before the in-focus date. In this way, the controller 12detects the presence or absence of a content item year by year inretrospect until the year to which the oldest content item belongs.

For example, a content item dated Jul. 10, 2003 may be detected as theoldest content item, and the in-focus date in one of the calendar-formatlife time calendar and the deview-format life time calendar may be Sep.13, 2005. The controller 12 searches the memory 11 for a content item onSep. 13, 2004, one year before the in-focus date.

If there is no content item on the date one year before the in-focusdate, the controller 12 cannot detect any content on the date one yearbefore the in-focus date. The controller 12 then searches the memory 11for a content item falling within a date range one week before to oneweek after the date one year before the in-focus date, namely, Sep. 13,2004 (i.e., Sep. 6 through Sep. 12, 2004 and Sep. 14 through Sep. 20,2004).

If no content is detected in these dates one year before the in-focusdate, the controller 12 searches the memory 11 for a content item on adate two years before the in-focus date, namely, Sep. 13, 2003.

If there is no content item on the date two years before the in-focusdate, the controller 12 cannot detect any content on the date two yearsbefore the in-focus date. The controller 12 then searches the memory 11for a content item falling within a date range one week before to oneweek after the date two years before the in-focus date, namely, Sep. 13,2003 (i.e., Sep. 6 through Sep. 12, 2003 and Sep. 14 through Sep. 20,2003).

In this way, the controller 12 detects the presence or absence of acontent item year by year in retrospect until the year to which theoldest content item belongs.

In step S70, the controller 12 determines the presence or absence ofeach content item by year. When the controller 12 detects a content itemof a predetermined type, processing proceeds to step S66. If thecontroller 12 fails to detect a content item of a predetermined type,processing proceeds to step S71.

If it is determined in step S63 that the oldest date is not one yearolder than the in-focus date, the controller 12 determines whether theoldest date is at least one month older than the in-focus date. If it isdetermined in step S64 that the oldest date is at least one month olderthan the in-focus date, processing proceeds to step S71. If it isdetermined in step S64 that the oldest date is not older than thein-focus date by one month, processing proceeds to step S65.

If it is determined in step S64 that the oldest date is at least onemonth old, or if no corresponding content is detected in the contentdetection by one year in steps S69 and S70, the controller 12 detects acontent item by month in step S71.

In step S71, the controller 12 detects the presence or absence of acontent item on a date one month before the in-focus date. If no contentis detected on the date one month older that the in-focus date, thecontroller 12 then searches for a content item on a date two monthsbefore the in-focus date. In this way, the controller 12 detects anycontent item in retrospect month by month until the date to which theoldest content item belongs to.

A content item dated Nov. 10, 2004 might be detected as the one havingthe oldest date, and an in-focus date in one of the calendar-format lifetime calendar and the deview-format life time calendar might be Sep. 13,2005. The controller 12 searches the memory 11 for a content itemfalling on a date one month before the in-focus date, namely, Aug. 13,2005, and falling within a day range extending from one week before Aug.13 to Aug. 13, 2005 (Aug. 6 through Aug. 12, 2005), and a day rangeextending from August 13 to one week after Aug. 13, 2005 (Aug. 14through Aug. 20, 2005).

If no content item is detected in these day ranges one month before, thecontroller 12 searches the memory 11 for a content item falling on adate two months before the in-focus date, namely, Jul. 13, 2005, andfalling within a day range extending from one week before Jul. 13 toJul. 13, 2005 (Jul. 6 through Jul. 12, 2005), and a day range extendingfrom July 13 to one week after Jul. 13, 2005 (Jul. 14 through Jul. 20,2005).

The controller 12 detects the presence or absence of a content item inretrospect month by month until the month to which the oldest contentitem belongs. In step S72, the controller 12 detects the presence orabsence of any content item detected by month. If a content item of anypredetermined type is detected, processing proceeds to step S66 at thedetection timing. If it is determined in step S72 that no content itemis detected, processing proceeds to step S65.

If it is determined in step S64 that the oldest date is within one monthold, or if no corresponding content is detected in the content search bymonth in steps S71 and S72, processing proceeds to step S65. In stepS65, the controller 12 determines any date between the oldest date andthe in-focus date using a random number, and detects the content item onthe determined date. Processing proceeds to step S66.

In step S66, the controller 12 displays in the popup display window anycontent item that might be detected in the detection process by year, bymonth, or randomly. The controller 12 also registers history informationindicating the thus displayed content item in a remembrance list storedon the memory 11 of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 18 through 20 illustrate display examples of the content itemsdisplayed in a popup display. FIG. 18 illustrates a content itemdisplayed in a popup display in the calendar-format life time calendar.As shown in FIG. 18, the focusing area focuses on October 13 (today) inthe calendar-format life time calendar of October 2005. The controller12 detects content items on Oct. 13, 2004 one year before Oct. 13, 2005.

FIG. 19 illustrates a display example of content items displayed in apopup display in the deview-format life time calendar in the listdisplay screen. As shown in FIG. 19, the focusing area is focusing on abirthday content item on Sep. 23, 2005. The controller 12 detects anddisplays content items on Sep. 23, 2004 in a popup display.

If any content item is found in retrospect on Sep. 23, 2004 one yearbefore Sep. 23, 2005, that content item should be displayed in a popupdisplay. Since no such content item is present, a content dated Sep. 22,2004 falling within one week range before and after Sep. 23, 2004 isdisplayed instead.

FIG. 20 illustrates a display example of content items displayed in apopup display in the deview-format life time calendar in the thumbnaildisplay screen. As shown in FIG. 20, the focusing area is focusing on athumbnail image of a still image content item dated Sep. 23, 2005. Thecontroller 12 also displays content items dated Sep. 23, 2004 in a popupdisplay.

The controller 12 displays such a remembrance popup window in a mannerthat the display area of the in-focus date is not hidden by the popupdisplay. As shown in FIG. 18, the focusing area is focusing on thecontent items on October 13 displayed in the center of the display 5.The controller 12 displays the popup display in the lower portion of thedisplay 5 (or in the upper portion of the display 5) in a manner not tohide the display area of the in-focus content items.

The controller 12 displays three content items horizontally across thedisplay 5 in the remembrance popup display. As shown in FIG. 18, thecontroller 12 detects at least three content items In accordance withthe content priority order, and thus displays a birthday content item, astill image content item (thumbnail image) photographed by the camera 8,and a protected received e-mail content item protected from left toright in the popup display area. If the number of content items is twoor less, the controller 12 leaves a surplus portion of the display areablank.

If the number of detected content items is four or more, the controller12 displays in the remembrance popup display a content item other thanpreviously displayed content items. More specifically, as shown in FIG.18, the controller 12 detects six still image content items dated Oct.13, 2004, and displays threes of the six items in the remembrance popupdisplay. The controller 12 then stores information relating to the threestill image content items displayed in the remembrance popup display(such as identification information of each still image content item).When the content dated Oct. 13, 2004 is displayed in the remembrancepopup display next time, the controller 12 displays the three contentitems in the remembrance popup display different from the three contentitems previously displayed. In this way, when the content on the samedate is displayed in the remembrance popup display, displayed contentitems are set to be different from popup display to popup display.

In step S67 in the flowchart of FIG. 17, after the remembrance popupdisplay, the controller 12 monitors the operational status of theoperation unit 6 to determine whether the focusing area shiftingoperation is performed. The controller 12 continuously displays thecontent items in the remembrance popup display until the detection ofthe focusing area shifting operation. At the detection of the focusingarea shifting operation, processing proceeds to step S68.

In step S68, the controller 12 erases the remembrance popup displaybecause the focusing area shifting operation is detected. The entireprocess illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 17 is thus completed. Inother words, the remembrance popup display is continuously displayedwhile the focusing area remains stationary and is stopped at thedetection of the focusing area shifting operation. In this way, theremembrance popup display is displayed only while the user stopsshifting the focusing area. This arrangement eliminates theinconvenience that the remembrance popup display impedes the useroperation.

As described above, information relating to the content displayed in theremembrance popup display is registered as history in the remembrancelist on the memory 11 when the remembrance popup display is displayed.The remembrance list is displayed in response to a predetermined useroperation. When a date of a desired content item is selected from theremembrance list, the controller 12 displays the deview-format life timecalendar corresponding to the selected date. Such a process isillustrated in a flowchart of FIG. 21. The process illustrated in theflowchart of FIG. 21 is started in accordance with the life timecalendar application program when the controller 12 displays one of thecalendar-format life time calendar and the deview-format life timecalendar on the display 5.

In step S81, the controller 12 monitors the operational status of theoperation unit 6, thereby determining whether an instruction to displaythe remembrance list is issued.

To display the remembrance list, the user presses the fourth soft key 29of FIG. 2A when one of the calendar-format life time calendar and thedeview-format life time calendar is displayed. In step S81, thecontroller 12 monitors the pressing of the fourth soft key 29 todetermine whether the user has issued an instruction to display theremembrance list. At the detection of the pressing of the fourth softkey 29, processing proceeds to step S82.

In step S82, the controller 12 displays the remembrance list stored onthe memory 11 on the display 5. For example, the remembrance list storedon the memory 11 permits a history of four remembrance popup displays tobe listed therein. As shown in FIG. 22, the remembrance list stored onthe memory 11 lists a history of remembrance popup displays dated Sep.23, 2003, Apr. 30, 2004, Aug. 6, 2004, and Sep. 23, 2004.

The controller 12 focuses on the latest display in the history of theremembrance list in a default setting. The user can shift the focusingarea by pressing the cross key 24, and presses the entry key 25 with thefocusing area focusing on a desired display in the history to select thedesired display. In step S83, the controller 12 detects the operationalstatus of the entry key 25, thereby determining whether the desiredhistory is selected from the remembrance list. Upon detecting thepressing of the entry key 25, the controller 12 proceeds to step S84. Ifthe pressing of the entry key 25 is not detected, the controller 12proceeds to step S85.

In step S84, the controller 12 detects the in-focus date in theremembrance list in the history, and displays the deview-format lifetime calendar with respect to that date on the display 5. The entireprocess illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 21 is thus completed.

More specifically, when the pressing of the entry key 25 is detectedwith the focusing area focusing on Sep. 23, 2003, the controller 12displays on the display 5 the deview-format life time calendar in thelist display screen discussed with reference to FIG. 12. In this case,the controller 12 displays the deview-format life time calendar witheach content item on September 23 centered on the display area of thedisplay 5. In this way, the user recognizes the detailed history ofdisplay from the remembrance list on the deview-format life timecalendar.

When the history is selected from the remembrance list, thedeview-format life time calendar in the list display screencorresponding to the date of the selected history is displayed.Alternatively, the deview-format life time calendar in the thumbnaildisplay screen corresponding to the selected history may be displayed(see FIG. 13).

If it is determined in step S83 that the pressing of the entry key 25 isnot detected, processing proceeds to step S85. In step S85, thecontroller 12 determines whether an operation to return the displayscreen to a previous screen displayed immediately prior to thedisplaying of the remembrance list is performed. In the cellular phoneof one embodiment of the present invention, the controller 12 returnsthe display screen to the previous screen displayed immediately prior tothe displaying of the remembrance list if the pressing of the clear key32 of FIG. 2A is detected during the displaying of the remembrance list.

In step S85, the controller 12 determines whether the clear key 32 hasbeen pressed, thereby determining whether the operation to return thedisplay screen to the previous screen has been performed. If thecontroller 12 detects the pressing of the clear key 32, processingproceeds to step S86. The controller 12 displays one of thecalendar-format life time calendar and the deview-format life timecalendar on the display 5, and completes the entire process illustratedin the flowchart of FIG. 21.

When the pressing of the clear key 32 is not detected in step S85, thecontroller 12 monitors the pressing of another key other than the clearkey 32 in step S87. If none of the keys is pressed, processing returnsto step S82. The controller 12 continuously displays the remembrancelist. If the controller 12 has detected the pressing of any of the keys,the controller 12 completes the entire process illustrated in theflowchart of FIG. 21 at the detection timing, and performs a processresponsive to the pressed key.

In the cellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention, thecontroller 12 displays a main menu if the third soft key 28 is pressedduring the displaying of the remembrance list. If the on-hook key 31 ispressed, the life time calendar application program is quit. In stepS87, the controller 12 monitors the pressing of one of the third softkey 28 and the on-hook key 31. At the detection of the pressing of oneof the third soft key 28 and the on-hook key 31, the controller 12completes the process illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 21. Thecontroller 12 thus controls the displaying of the main menu and thequitting of the life time calendar application program.

The remembrance popup display is displayed with respect to the date oneyear before the in-focus date or the date one month before the in-focusdate. Alternatively, the remembrance popup display may be displayed withreference to the “number of past content items.”

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a remembrance popup display processperformed with reference to the number of past content items. In FIG.23, steps identical to those described with reference to FIG. 17 aredesignated with the same step numbers, and the discussion thereof isomitted herein.

When the start of the focusing area stay-put period in one of thecalendar-format life time calendar and the deview-format life timecalendar is detected in the flowchart of FIG. 23, the controller 12monitors the elapse of a predetermined remembrance display time in stepS61. At the moment the predetermined remembrance display time haselapsed, the controller 12 proceeds to step S91.

In step S91, the controller 12 detects a content item of a past datehaving the largest number of content items from among the past dateswith respect to the in-focus date based on the time information attachedto each content item stored on the memory 11.

More specifically, the focusing area might be currently focusing on Sep.13, 2005 in one of the calendar-format life time calendar and thedeview-format life time calendar. The controller 12 then searches thememory 11 for content items on any date before Sep. 13, 2005. Thecontroller 12 then detects any date before Sep. 13, 2005 having thelargest number of content items, and handles the content items on thatdate as content items to be displayed in the remembrance popup display.

In step S66, the content items on the date having the largest number ofcontent items are displayed in the remembrance popup display until thefocusing area shifting is detected in step S67 as previously discussedwith reference to the flowchart of FIG. 17.

For example, when the user has traveled or has attended a weddingceremony, the number of still image content items increases. Whenbusiness has been talked via e-mail or a plan has been prepared viae-mail, the number protected e-mail content items increases. An increasein the number of content items means that that date is important to theuser.

The controller 12 thus detects a date having the largest number ofcontent items before the in-focus date in one of the calendar-formatlife time calendar and the deview-format life time calendar and displaysthe content items on that date in the remembrance popup display. Thecontroller 12 thus displays in the remembrance popup display the contenton the past date likely to be important to the user.

The remembrance popup display may be displayed with respect to the “pastdate” and the “number of past content items.” FIG. 24 is a flowchartillustrating the remembrance popup display displayed based on the pastdate and the number of past content items. In the flowchart of FIG. 24,steps identical to those described with reference to FIG. 17 aredesignated with the same step numbers, and the discussion thereof isomitted herein.

When the start of the focusing area stay-put period in one of thecalendar-format life time calendar and the deview-format life timecalendar is detected in the flowchart of FIG. 24, the controller 12monitors the elapse of a predetermined remembrance display time in stepS61. At the moment the predetermined remembrance display time haselapsed, the controller 12 proceeds to step S101.

In step S101, the controller 12 detects a content item on a date oneyear before the in-focus date (and on a date close to the date one yearbefore the in-focus date) and a content item on a date one month beforethe in-focus date (and on a date close to the date one month before thein-focus date) in one of the calendar-format life time calendar and thedeview-format life time calendar.

In step S102, the controller 12 randomly searches for a date beforein-focus date in one of the calendar-format life time calendar and thedeview-format life time calendar, and then searches for a content itemon that date.

In step S103, the controller 12 searches for a date having the largestnumber of content items from among the date one year before the in-focusdate (and the date close to the date one year before the in-focus date),the date one month before the in-focus date (and the date close to thedate one month before the in-focus date) detected in step S101, and therandomly searched date detected in step S102.

In step S66, the controller 12 continuously displays the content itemsof the date having the largest number of content items until thefocusing area shifting operation is detected in step S67 as discussedwith reference to the flowchart of FIG. 17.

The user can thus display in the remembrance popup display the contenton the past date that could be important to the user, related to thein-focus date in one of the calendar-format life time calendar and thedeview-format life time calendar.

The user may select one of the “search by year,” the “search by month,”and the “random search” in a random fashion or with a predeterminedprobability, and then display the thus selected content of apredetermined type in the remembrance popup display. Such a remembrancepopup display process is illustrated in a flowchart of FIG. 25. In FIG.15, steps identical to those discussed with reference to the flowchartof FIG. 17 are designated with the same step numbers and the discussionthereof is not repeated herein.

When the stopping of the focusing area shifting is detected with one ofthe calendar-format life time calendar and the deview-format life timecalendar displayed in the flowchart of FIG. 25, the controller 12detects the elapse of a predetermined remembrance display time in stepS61. At the moment the predetermined remembrance display time haselapsed, the controller 12 proceeds to step S62. In step S62, thecontroller 12 searches for a content item having the oldest date, andthen proceeds to step S111.

In step S111, the controller 12 selects one of the search by year, thesearch by month, and the random search with a predetermined probability.For example, the cellular phone of one embodiment of the presentinvention provides 33% for the search by year, 33% for the search bymonth, and 33% for the random search. In other words, the search byyear, the search by month, the random search are performed with equalprobability.

The search may be prioritized with 60% for the probability of the searchby year, 30% for the probability of the search by month, and 10% for therandom search. In this case, the probability of the content selectionusing the search by year becomes highest. Alternatively, the user canset manually the probabilities for the search by year, the search bymonth, and the random search.

In step S112 or S113, the controller 12 determines whether to performthe search by year or the search by month. If it is determined in stepS113 that the search by month is to be performed, processing proceeds tostep S115. If it is determined in step S115 that the search by month isto be performed, processing proceeds to step S116. If it is determinedthat neither the search by year nor the search by month is to beperformed, the controller 12 determines to perform the random search,and then proceeds to step S114.

In step S115, the controller 12 determines a year in a random fashionbetween the oldest date and the present date, and searches for contentitem on a date closest to an in-focus date as a reference date in one ofthe calendar-format life time calendar and the deview-format life timecalendar of the determined year.

A content item on the date three days older than the reference date anda content item on the date three days younger than the reference datacan be detected as the content of the date closest to the referencedate. If content items are detected on the dates away by the same numberof days in the past and in the future from the reference date in thisway, the controller 12 detects the content item on the date away in thepast from the reference date as the content item on the date closest tothe reference date.

In step S116, the controller 12 determines a month in a random fashionbetween the date one year before the present date and the present date,and searches for a content item on a date closest to an in-focus date asa reference date in one of the calendar-format life time calendar andthe deview-format life time calendar of the determined month.

If content items are detected on the dates away by the same number ofdays in the past and in the future from the reference date, thecontroller 12 detects the content item on the date away in the past fromthe reference date as the content item on the date closest to thereference date.

In step S114, the controller 12 searches for a content item on a pastdate before an in-focus date in the one of the calendar-format life timecalendar and the deview-format life time calendar, and then proceeds tostep S66.

The controller 12 displays in the remembrance popup display one of thecontent item hit in the search by year in step S115, the content itemhit in step S116 and the content item hit in the random search, andregisters the content item in the history of displayed content items inthe remembrance list on the memory 11. The controller 12 continuouslydisplays the remembrance popup display until the focusing area shiftingoperation is detected.

One of the search by year, the search by month, and the random search isdetected in a random fashion or with a predetermined probability. Thethus detected content item is displayed in the remembrance popupdisplay. The user can thus enjoy the remembrance popup display with somedegree of regularity and randomness at the same time.

The user selects a desired content item in the deview-format life timecalendar and presses the entry key 25 in the cellular phone of oneembodiment of the present invention as described with reference to stepS36 in the flowchart of FIG. 11. The controller 12 then starts theapplication program responsive to the selected content, therebyreproducing the content. FIG. 26 illustrates a configuration of thecellular phone of one embodiment of the present invention forreproducing the content.

When a desired content item is selected from the deview-format life timecalendar displayed in accordance with the life time calendar applicationprogram at an application program layer, the controller 12 reproducesthe selected content from the cache memory 13 at a storage layer inaccordance with the cache system at a middleware layer.

The controller 12 operates based on the cache system. The controller 12thus retrieves from the memory 11 the content having the timeinformation falling with a time range with respect to the date havingthe content in focus in the deview-format life time calendar and themetadata of the content, and then stores the content and the metadatathereof on the cache memory 13. When an instruction to reproduce thecontent falling within the time range indicated by the time informationis provided, the content cached on the cache memory 13 is reproduced.The content is thus reproduced at a high speed.

The reproducing process of the content using the cache process isillustrated in a flowchart of FIG. 27. When the entry key 25 is pressedwith a desired date selected in the calendar-format life time calendar,the controller 12 displays the deview-format life time calendar. Thecontroller 12 starts the process illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 27in accordance with the life time calendar application program at thetiming the deview-format life time calendar is displayed.

In step S121, the controller 12 references the content table stored onthe memory 11 in accordance with a date serving as an initial positionof the focusing area when the deview-format life time calendar isdisplayed. FIG. 28 illustrates, as an example of the content table, astill image content table from among the tables arranged for respectivecontent. The structure of the content table is described below withreference to the still image content table of FIG. 28. Each contenttable lists an identification (ID) number of each content item, timeinformation of the content item, a title of the content item, a type ofthe content item, and a pointer indicating an address of the contentitem stored on the memory 11.

In step S121, the controller 12 references the content table, therebyfetching from the content table the metadata of each content itemcorresponding to the date serving as an initial focusing area position,and the content corresponding to the fetched metadata from the memory11. The controller 12 also fetches from the content table the metadataof a content item on a date within a range of several days before andafter the in-focus date and the content corresponding to the fetchedmetadata from the memory 11. Processing proceeds to step S122.

If the initial focusing area position is Oct. 27, 2005, the controller12 fetches from each content table the metadata of the content itemhaving the time information dated Oct. 27, 2005, and also fetches thecontent item corresponding to the fetched metadata from the memory 11.As shown in FIG. 28, the controller 12 fetches from the still imagecontent table the metadata of a still image content item having an IDnumber “S-001” and fetches the still image content having a title “eee”(the still image content having time information Oct. 27, 2005) from thememory 11.

In step S122, the controller 12 produces on the cache memory 13 a cachetable having the metadata of the content corresponding to the focusingarea initial position while storing each content item fetched from thememory 11 onto the cache memory 13. Processing proceeds to step S123.

FIG. 29 illustrates an example of a cache table produced on the cachememory 13. As shown in FIG. 29, the focusing area initial position isOct. 27, 2005. The controller 12 fetches metadata of a transmittede-mail content item having an ID number “SD-005” from a transmittede-mail content table on the memory 11, metadata of a received e-mailcontent item having an ID number “JD-004” from a received e-mail contenttable on the memory 11, metadata of a still image content item having anID number “S-001” from a still image content table on the memory 11, andstores the metadata of these content items dated Oct. 27, 2005 on thecache table.

As shown in FIG. 29, the controller 12 fetches metadata of a still imagecontent item having an ID number “S-000” and time information dated onOctober 26, one day before Oct. 27, 2005, and metadata of a receivede-mail content item having an ID number “JD-003” and time informationdated October 26 from a received e-mail content table on the memory 11.The controller 12 arranges the metadata of each content item having thetime information dated Oct. 26, 2005 on top of (prior to) the metadataof the content items dated Oct. 27, 2005 in the center of the cachetable.

As shown in FIG. 29, the controller 12 fetches, from a birthday contenttable on the memory 11, metadata of a birthday content item having an IDnumber “T-005” and time information dated October 28 one day after Oct.27, 2005, and arranges the fetched metadata below (subsequent to) themetadata having time information dated Oct. 27, 2005 in the center ofthe cache table.

As shown in FIG. 29, the controller 12 fetches, from a still imagecontent table on the memory 11, metadata of a still image content itemhaving an ID number “S-002” and time information dated October 29, twodays younger than Oct. 27, 2005, and then arranges the fetched metadataof the still image content item below (subsequent to) metadata of abirthday content item having time information dated Oct. 28, 2005.

In other words, in step S122, the controller 12 fetches the metadata ofthe content item corresponding to the in-focus date, and the metadata ofthe content item having the time information several days older oryounger than the in-focus date, and arranges these pieces of metadata inthe cache table in the order specified by the time information. In thisway, the cache table is arranged with the metadata of the content itemwith respect to the in-focus date centered therein.

The controller 12 fetches the content item together with the metadatathereof from the memory 11 and then stores the content item on the cachememory 13. As shown in FIG. 29, the controller 12 fetches from thememory 11 a still image content item having a title “aaa,” a receivede-mail content item having a title “000,” a transmitted e-mail contentitem having a title “a12,” a received e-mail content item having a tile“050,” a still image content item having a tile “eee,” a birthdaycontent item having a tile “f13,” and a still image content item havinga title “ggg” and then stores the fetched content items on the cachememory 13.

As shown in FIG. 29, the cache table lists an identification (ID) numberof each content item, time information of the content item, a title ofthe content item, a type of the content item, and a pointer indicatingan address of the content item stored on the cache memory 13.

Upon storing each content item and the metadata of the content item onthe cache memory 13, the controller 12 proceeds to step S123. Thecontroller 12 displays on the display 5 the deview-format life timecalendar discussed with reference to FIG. 12 (or FIG. 13) while focusingon a content item of a predetermined date. The user reproduces apredetermined content item by pressing the entry key 25 with thefocusing area focusing on the predetermined content item. In step S124,the controller 12 determines whether an instruction to reproduce thecontent is provided (whether the entry key 25 has been pressed). If thecontroller 12 detects the instruction to reproduce the content in stepS123, processing proceeds to step S125.

In step S125, the controller 12 references the cache table on the cachememory 13 in accordance with the metadata of the content that is to bereproduced in the deview-format life time calendar. In step S126, thecontroller 12 determines whether any content item is hit. If it isdetermined in step S126 that any content item is hit, processingproceeds to step S130. The controller 12 reads the content item storedon the cache memory 13 (the content specified to be reproduced inaccordance with the instruction), and reproduces the content item inaccordance with the application program for the content.

More specifically, the instruction to reproduce a still image contentitem dated Oct. 27, 2005 might be issued in the deview-format life timecalendar. In response to the instruction, the controller 12 searches forthe metadata of the still image content item to be reproduced, and thenchecks the metadata against the metadata stored in the cache table. Thestill image content item to be reproduced may now be the one having anID number “S-001.” As shown in FIG. 29, the cache table lists themetadata of the still image content item having the time informationdated Oct. 27, 2005, the ID number “S-001,” and the title “eee.” Thecache table stores a storage position (address=pointer to the cachecontent) of the still image content item corresponding to the metadatastored on the cache memory 13.

In accordance with the pointer to the cache content, the controller 12reads the still image content item having the ID number “S-001” and thetitle “eee” stored on the cache memory 13, and displays the still imagecontent item on the display 5 in accordance with the viewer function ofthe camera control program.

If it is determined in step S126 that the cache memory 13 is mishit,i.e., if the metadata of the content to be reproduced fails to match anyof the metadata in the cache table, the controller 12 proceeds to stepS127.

For example, the metadata of the content to be reproduced may fail tomatch any of the metadata stored in the cache table in the casediscussed below. As shown in FIG. 29, the user shifts the focusing areain the deview-format life time calendar to November 1, having nometadata in the cache table, and issues an instruction requesting areproducing process. In such a case, the cache table lists no metadatamatching the metadata of the content requested to be reproduced. Thecontroller 12 then mishits and then proceeds to step S127. The cachetable is updated in steps S127 and S128.

In step S127, the controller 12 fetches from the memory 11 the contentto be reproduced and also fetches, from the content table for thecontent stored on the memory 11, the metadata of the content. Processingproceeds to step S128.

In step S128, the controller 12 fetches from the memory 11 the metadataof the content (and the content) required to place the metadata of thecontent to be reproduced in the center of the cache table, and proceedsto step S129.

In step S129, the controller 12 reorganizes the cache table having themetadata of the reproducing content arranged in the center thereof, andproceeds to step S130. In step S130, the controller 12 reproduces thereproducing content, fetched from the memory 11, in accordance with theapplication program of the content. The entire process illustrated inthe flowchart of FIG. 27 is thus completed.

FIG. 30A illustrates an example of a pre-update cache table, and FIG.30B illustrates an example of an updated cache table. As shown in FIG.30A, the pre-update cache table lists the metadata of content items forOct. 26 through Oct. 29, 2005. If an instruction to reproduce a stillimage content item dated Nov. 1, 2005 is input in the deview-format lifetime calendar, the metadata of the still image content item dated Nov.1, 2005 is not recorded in the cache table, and the still image contentitem dated November 1 is naturally not recorded on the cache memory 13.The controller 12 fetches from the memory 11 the still image contentitem and the metadata thereof dated November 1 (step S127).

The controller 12 then fetches from the memory 11 metadata of a contentitem and the content item required to place the metadata of the stillimage content item dated November 1.

In the updated cache table shown in FIG. 29B, the metadata of the stillimage content item dated November 1 is placed in the center of the cachetable. Three storage areas for three pieces of metadata are provided formetadata on dates prior to November 1. The controller 12 lists themetadata of the still image content item dated Oct. 27, 2005 prior toNovember 1 having the ID “S-001” and the title “eee,” the metadata ofthe birthday content item dated Oct. 28, 2005 having the title “f13,”and the metadata of the still image content item dated Oct. 29, 2005having the ID number “S-002” and the title “ggg” in the order of dates.

The controller 12 places the metadata of the still image content datedNovember 1 in the center of the cache table. The controller 12 selectsthree pieces of metadata on the dates closest to November 1, out of themetadata stored in the cache table before updating, and arranges, in theorder of dates, the three pieces of metadata above (prior to) themetadata of the still image content item dated November 1 arranged inthe center of the cache table. The controller 12 deletes all themetadata other than the selected metadata and all the content of themetadata other than the selected metadata, out of the metadata and thecontent stored in the cache table before updating.

This deletion process causes storage empty areas for three pieces ofmetadata after November 1 serving as the center of the cache table. Byreferencing the content table of each content item stored on the memory11, the controller 12 fetches the metadata in the order of proximity toNovember 1 out of the metadata on the dates close to November 1 (stepS128). The controller 12 arranges the fetched metadata below (subsequentto) the metadata of the still image content item dated November 1serving as the center of the cache table (step S129).

More specifically, the content table of the still image content items ofFIG. 28 shows the metadata dated November 3 through November 5 (metadataof ID numbers “S-004” through “S-007”) as the metadata on the closedates after November 1. Since three metadata storage areas areavailable, the controller 12 fetches three still image content itemsdated November 3 having ID numbers “S-004” through “S-006” and arrangedthe fetched items in the cache table.

Upon fetching three pieces of metadata for the three blank area, thecontroller 12 fetches the still image content items corresponding to thefetched metadata from the memory 11, and stores the fetched contentitems on the cache memory 13.

The update process of the cache table is summarized as below. If themetadata of the content item to be reproduced in response to thereproducing instruction is not present in the cache table, the cachetable is reorganized so that units of metadata are arranged in the dateorder with the metadata of the content item to be reproduced centered inthe cache table. The content items corresponding to the units ofmetadata stored in the reorganized cache table are also re-stored on thecache memory 13.

Content items on the date close to the date having the content to bereproduced and metadata of the content items are also cached togetherwith the content items to be reproduced and the metadata thereof on thecache memory 13.

The metadata of each content item is arranged in accordance with thetime information of the content item in the life time calendar. Themetadata of another content item is thus arranged adjacent to themetadata of the target content item to be reproduced. It is likely thatanother content item that is expected to be reproduced next in responseto a reproducing instruction is selected from among metadata of contentitems displayed adjacent to the current target content item.

The content items on the date close to the date having the currentreproducing target content item and the metadata thereof are thus cachedtogether with the current reproducing target content item and themetadata thereof. This arrangement allows a content item likely to bespecified by a next reproducing instruction and metadata thereof to bestored on the cache memory 13 for a next possible reproducing process.If an instruction to reproduce the content item cached in the cachememory 13 is issued (cache hit), that content item can reproduced at ahigh speed.

The cellular phone of embodiments of the present invention searches forcontent items falling within the same time range based on the timeinformation contained in a variety of content items different in type,and then displays, in a time-series fashion, information relating to thecontent items falling within the same time range. In other words, thecellular phone displays information, such as icons and thumbnail images,relating to the content items having the time information indicatingthat the content items fall within the time range of each date, in thelife time calendar. Each life time calendar is partitioned by the timerange of date.

Content items of different types are displayed in groups on a per datebasis in the life time calendar. The user can thus recognize at a glancethe content items different in type within a long time range, such asone month or one year. The user can easily and quickly searches for adesired content item from among a plurality of content items differentin type.

Since content items different in type can be displayed in groups on aper date basis in the life time calendar, the user may recall a thenfriend of the user's from a thumbnail image of a still image contentitem or an e-mail content item transmitted or received. The recall ofsuch a past event may serve as a trigger to a subsequent action to thefriend again, such as sending an e-mail.

The content items are automatically sorted according to the timeinformation of the content items and then displayed in the life timecalendar. The user simply performs standard operations, such astransmitting an e-mail or picture taking using the camera 8, and is freefrom any particular operation and any particular care. The content itemsare automatically displayed in the life time calendar.

Since the content items different in type are collectively displayed ona per date basis, the user can use the life time calendar as anoperation history or a diary.

If the still image of a user's face is registered in one of thetelephone book and the personal information registration box with one ofa transmitted e-mail content item, a received e-mail content item and abirthday content item displayed in the deview-format life time calendar,the thumbnail image of the still image is displayed in the deview-formatlife time calendar. The user can thus easily recognize a person as atransmission source or destination of an e-mail or a person who is goingto have his or her birthday.

Since information relating to the content items to be displayed in thelife time calendar is set beforehand in accordance with the displaysetting and the filter setting, only information relating to a desiredcontent item can be displayed in the life time calendar. The cellularphone can thus allow only the content items of the type desired by theuser to be displayed in the life time calendar. The user can easily andquickly search for the desired content.

The cellular phone displays, in the deview-format life time calendar inthe list display screen, the content using text information, icons, andthumbnail images corresponding to the content, thereby allowing the userto recognize the content of each content item. The cellular phonedisplays, in the deview-format life time calendar in the thumbnaildisplay screen, mainly icons and thumbnail images corresponding to thecontent, thereby allowing the user to recognize a number of contentitems at a time.

In the deview-format life time calendar, any date having no content iseliminated. In other words, the content items are displayed with dateshaving respective content items adjacent to each other. In this way,more content items are displayed in the deview-format life timecalendar.

A display area of a date having a plurality of still image content itemsis displayed in the calendar-format life time calendar. One still imagecontent item is selected from among the still image content items in arandom fashion, and the selected still image content item is displayedon the display area. At regular intervals, for example, every 3 hours, 6hours, or 12 hours, a still image content item other than the stillimage content item of the currently displayed thumbnail image isselected from among the plurality of still image content items and thethumbnail image of the selected still image content item is displayed onthe display area of the date. In this way, the thumbnail image isupdated on the display area of the date having the plurality of stillimage content items in the calendar-format life time calendar. Uponviewing the calendar-format life time calendar every predetermined time,the user can recognize a new thumbnail image each time.

If the focusing area continuously focuses on the display area of a datehaving a plurality of still image content items to be displayed in thecalendar-format life time calendar for 3 seconds or longer, thethumbnail image of the still image content item displayed on the displayarea of the date is updated to the thumbnail image of a new still imagecontent item throughout the focusing period. In this way, the thumbnailimages of the still image content items corresponding to the in-focusdate are successively updated and displayed. By simply keeping focusingon the display area of the desired date, the user can view all stillimage content items corresponding to that date.

By shifting the focusing area to the year index, to the month index, orto the day index, the content items are switched by year, by month, orby day. A desired content item is easily and quickly searched from amonga great deal of content items stored by year, by month, or by day.

If the display area of a date having no content is specified in thecalendar-format life time calendar to switch to the deview-format lifetime calendar, a newly produced schedule content for specifying aregistration of a new schedule is displayed on the display area of thedate specified in the deview-format life time calendar. By specifyingthe date having no content, the user can easily register a new schedule.

When the cellular phone of embodiments of the present invention detectsthe focusing area stay-put period longer than a predetermined time inone of the calendar-format life time calendar and the deview-format lifetime calendar, the controller 12 detects a content item corresponding toa past in-focus date by year, by month, or in a random fashion. Thecontroller 12 displays the detected content item on one of thecalendar-format life time calendar and the deview-format life timecalendar on a superimposed fashion.

When one of the calendar-format life time calendar and the deview-formatlife time calendar is displayed, the present or future date tends todraw the user's attention. The remembrance popup display functiondisplays content items one year before or one month before, therebyhelping the user to pay attention to a past date as well. The user canrecall past remembrance forgotten with time, thereby recognizingoverlooked past content items with new light.

The remembrance popup display, which is displayed when the stopping ofthe focusing area shifting is detected, does not impede the useroperation. Since the remembrance popup display is automatically appearswhen the focusing area stay-put state is detected, it is not necessaryfor the user to perform any particular operation.

When there is a plurality of content items to be displayed at a time, adifferent content item is displayed each time the remembrance popupdisplay is displayed. The user has more chance to recognize the pastcontent item or new content item.

The content items are displayed in the remembrance popup displayfunction with the following priority order:

1. the still image content photographed by the camera 8,2. one of the received e-mail content and transmitted e-mail contentprotected,3. the schedule content,4. the still image content downloaded via a network, and5. one of the received e-mail content and transmitted e-mail contentunprotected. A content item that is likely to help the user to recall isdisplayed in the remembrance popup display with priority. Usefulinformation is thus displayed.

Information relating to the content item displayed in the remembrancepopup display is registered in the remembrance list as a history. Tolearn the detailed content items listed in the remembrance list, theuser simply selects the date corresponding to the content of interestfrom the remembrance list. The deview-format life time calendarcorresponding to the date having the content displayed in theremembrance popup display is displayed. The user recognizes the detailof the content displayed in the remembrance popup display in thedeview-format life time calendar.

The cellular phone of embodiments of the present invention caches on thecache memory 13 the content item specified as a target content item tobe reproduced and the metadata of the content item together with thecontent item the metadata thereof on dates close to the date having thetarget content item. Since the metadata of the content items isdisplayed in the order specified in the time information of each contentitem, the metadata of the target content item is displayed with themetadata of the other content items close thereto. Another content itemexpected to be specified as a next content item to be reproduced islikely to be selected from the other content items arranged close to thecurrent target content item.

Content items on the date close to the date having the content to bereproduced and metadata of the content items are also cached togetherwith the content items to be reproduced and the metadata thereof on thecache memory 13. The content item likely to be specified as a nexttarget reproducing content item and the metadata thereof are stored onthe cache memory 13 for possible next instruction. If an instruction toreproduce the content item cached in the cache memory 13 is issued(cache hit), that content item can reproduced at a high speed.

The metadata of the content items is arranged and displayed in the lifetime calendar in accordance with the time information of each contentitem. The content item and the metadata thereof on a date close to thedate having the content item specified as a target reproducing contentitem from the life time calendar are cached on the cache memory 13. Thecache memory 13 is effectively used.

In the above discussion, the present invention is applied to thecellular phone. The present invention may be applicable to any type ofapparatuses as long as the apparatuses handle a plurality of contentitems different in type. For example, the present invention isapplicable to a personal handy phone (PHS) system, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a notebook personal computer, a desk-top personalcomputer, a mobile gaming machine, etc. The above-described advantagesare provided in any of these apparatuses.

In accordance with the above-described embodiments, the content item andthe metadata fetched from the memory 11 in the cellular phone are cachedon the cache memory 13. As shown in FIG. 31, a content item and metadatathereof fetched from an external memory may also be cached on the cachememory 13.

As shown in FIG. 31, the external memory is a hard disk drive (HDD)arranged in a home personal computer. An instruction to reproduce acontent item is issued from the deview-format life time calendar, andthe controller 12 in the cellular phone communicates with the personalcomputer at the user's home via the communication unit 2 (communicationlayer) and a predetermined network such as the Internet or acommunication network of a telecommunications firm of the cellularphone. The controller 12 fetches the content item to be reproduced fromthe HDD in the personal computer.

A moving image content item containing a recorded television program istypically large in data size, and consumes a vast amount of storagecapacity of the memory 11. As shown in FIG. 31, the moving image contentitem is stored on the personal computer at the user's home, and isacquired as necessary from the personal computer for reproducing. Thisarrangement prevents the vast amount of date from consuming the storagecapacity of the memory 11, and the above-described advantages are stillachieved.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

1. An apparatus for processing information, comprising: a memory forstoring a plurality of content items different in type and metadatacontaining time information of the content items; a cache processor forfetching from the memory the content item and the metadata of thecontent item to be displayed on a display and storing the fetchedcontent item and the metadata thereof on a cache memory; a displaycontroller for displaying on the display the metadata of the contentitems from the cache memory arranged in accordance with the timeinformation and a selection operator selecting metadata corresponding toa content item desired to be processed, out of the metadata displayed;and a content processor for fetching from the cache memory a contentitem corresponding to the metadata selected by the selection operator byreferencing the cache memory in response to the selected metadata whenthe selection operator selects the metadata, and for performing aprocess responsive to the fetched content item.
 2. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the cache processor updates the cachememory so that the cache memory stores the content item processed by thecontent processor and the metadata of the content item, content itemshaving time information prior to and subsequent to time indicated by thetime information of the processed content item, and correspondingmetadata of the content items.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1,further comprising a communication unit for communicating via apredetermined network, wherein the content item and the metadata thereofto be stored on the cache memory by the cache processor are stored on acommunication apparatus connected to the predetermined network, andwherein the cache processor fetches the content item and the metadatathereof via the communication unit from the communication apparatusconnected to the predetermined network.
 4. A method of processinginformation, comprising steps of: fetching a content item and metadataof the content item to be displayed on a display from a memory storing aplurality of content items different in type and metadata containingtime information of the content items; storing the fetched content itemand the metadata thereof on a cache memory; fetching the metadata ofeach content item from the cache memory; displaying on the display themetadata of the content items from the cache memory arranged inaccordance with the time information and a selection operator selectingmetadata corresponding to a content item desired to be processed, out ofthe metadata displayed; fetching from the cache memory a content itemcorresponding to the metadata selected by the selection operator byreferencing the cache memory in response to the selected metadata whenthe selection operator selects the metadata; and performing a processresponsive to the fetched content item.
 5. A computer program forcausing a computer to process information, comprising steps of: fetchinga content item and metadata of the content item to be displayed on adisplay from a memory storing a plurality of content items different intype and metadata containing time information of the content items;storing the fetched content item and the metadata thereof on a cachememory; fetching the metadata of each content item from the cachememory; displaying on the display the metadata of the content items fromthe cache memory arranged in accordance with the time information and aselection operator selecting metadata corresponding to a content itemdesired to be processed, out of the metadata displayed; fetching fromthe cache memory a content item corresponding to the metadata selectedby the selection operator by referencing the cache memory in response tothe selected metadata when the selection operator selects the metadata;and performing a process responsive to the fetched content item.
 6. Amobile terminal comprising: a memory for storing a plurality of contentitems different in type and metadata containing time information of thecontent items; a cache memory for storing a content item and metadata ofthe content item to be displayed on a display; a cache processor forfetching from the memory the content item and the metadata of thecontent item to be displayed on the display and storing the fetchedcontent item and the fetched metadata thereof on the cache memory; adisplay controller for displaying on the display the metadata of thecontent items from the cache memory arranged in accordance with the timeinformation and a selection operator selecting metadata corresponding toa content item desired to be processed, out of the metadata displayed;an operation unit for shifting the selection operator; and a contentprocessor for fetching from the cache memory a content itemcorresponding to the metadata selected by the selection operator byreferencing the cache memory in response to the selected metadata whenthe selection operator shifted by the operation unit selects themetadata, and for performing a process responsive to the fetched contentitem.